


The Sheppard Equation

by jenny_wren



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-24
Updated: 2013-11-24
Packaged: 2018-01-02 11:51:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1056430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenny_wren/pseuds/jenny_wren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rodney needs to solve the Sheppard Equation before his world falls apart</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sheppard Equation

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt for something I've completely lost track of. I think it might have been an AU challenge or something. I am hopeless.  
> Anyway prompt was: The only thing which Dr Rodney McKay knew about James Carter—his darkly handsome new boyfriend with the perpetual bedhead and the sinful smirk—was that he's been lying to Rodney. In fact, Rodney's not even sure that James is his real name. So why on Earth is Rodney falling in love with him anyway?

Rodney grabbed the phone mostly to shut up the squawking that was disrupting his concentration. James had replaced his Bach ringtone with _White ‘n Nerdy_ and Rodney was too stupidly infatuated to change it back which annoyed him no end. He had however reprogrammed James’ phone to play _I’m Too Sexy_ which he considered to be a fair revenge. And as a side benefit he got to watch James somehow manage to pull off dorky and hot simultaneously when he preened every time it rang.

“McKay? McKay, Rodney are you there?”

Rodney glared at the phone. He was on the verge of making the scientific breakthrough of the decade if he could just keep his thoughts off his ridiculously attractive boyfriend, he did not need idiots disrupting his concentration.

“Yes, yes,” he snapped as he quickly jotted down his train of thought on the whiteboard before it was lost irretrievably. 

“Charming as always,” said a female voice.

“Huh?” said Rodney.

The female sighed. “It’s Sam Carter, McKay.”

“Oh, oh hey Sam.” 

“Hello to you to McKay. How’s things with you?”

“Fine, fine,” said Rodney quickly, cursing the betraying squeak in his voice.

“You sure?”

“Absolutely. Everything’s fine, fine. Why wouldn’t it be?” Rodney slapped his hand across his mouth to cut off his babbling. He was thoroughly grateful Sam wasn’t there to see his flushed and clammy face. She’d know something was up immediately and once she started asking questions, Rodney’s world would come crashing down around his ears and he just wasn’t ready for that to happen yet.

“No reason,” she said airily. “Just checking up on my favorite aggravation.”

Rodney shifted his hand just enough to mumble. “I’m fine.” He would have liked to twit her on admitting he was her favorite anything but if he opened his mouth he just knew the whole story of James would come tumbling out and Samantha Carter was the very last person he could afford to tell..

“So how’s work coming on the Sheppard Equation?”

Rodney kept his hand over his mouth. That subject wasn’t any safer. He wasn’t ready to let anybody know how well he was doing.

“That bad, huh?”

Breathing in deeply through his nose Rodney removed his hand.

“It’s utterly preposterous,” he sputtered, hoping Sam would mistake his nervousness for annoyance. “It’s an interesting theory but there’s no evidence. I am all for constructing models but they are supposed to bear some relationship to reality. There’s no precedent for Sheppard’s concept in the entire history of physics. I mean, if you’re feeling generous, you could argue Feynman was considering something along similar lines but…”

“I understand McKay,” soothed Sam, “but I know it’s important. That’s why we’ve got the best scientists in the country working on it. We’ll figure it out eventually.

Rodney couldn’t help smirking at the confirmation Sam wasn’t getting anywhere. He grunted down the phone, unwilling to chance her picking up on his smugness.

“Do you have anything? Anything at all?”

His stomach twisted uneasily because Sam was way too interested in what was purported to be an obscure theoretical model with no practical applications. Which meant she was aware of the power generation possibilities predicted by the theory. Power generation possibilities that made nuclear seem feeble.

“No,” he said shortly. “And really if I were you, I’d get this mysterious Sheppard working on it. After all, he is the one who came up with a new vision of subspace time in the first place, despite being pathetically unable to articulate it.”

“I’ve told you, there are reasons that make that impractical at this juncture.”

“But…”

“Look McKay, I’ve got to go. Keep up the good work and I’ll speak to you soon.”

“Fine. Bye Sam.”

“Goodbye McKay.”

The phone clicked off and Rodney allowed himself a gasp of relief. He wasn’t sure what the issue was with Sheppard was but mentioning the enigmatic originator of the Sheppard Equation had got rid of her even faster than he’d hoped.

Some part of him was amazed that he even wanted to get rid of Colonel Samantha Carter. Less than a month ago he’d been thrilled at her coming to him for help and had worked twenty hour days for the chance to lord the solution of the Sheppard Equation over her.

Now he couldn’t care less about the wretched equation. He would wish he’d never heard of it but he was convinced it was responsible for his meeting James Carter.

It was too much of a coincidence that barely a week after Sam sent him the Sheppard Equation, James had casually strolled into Rodney’s life and made himself at home. The only thing Rodney knew about his darkly handsome new boyfriend with the perpetual bedhead and sinful smirk was that he was lying to him. In fact, Rodney wasn’t even sure that James was his real name. 

 

When James had first sauntered into his lab and propped himself up against Rodney’s desk, Rodney, stuck between annoyance at the interruption and drooling at the extreme hotness of said interruption, had just stood there gaping unattractively.

“Hey,” James had drawled, “I was in the area and I’ve heard so much about you from my cousin Sam, I had to come see you for myself.”

“I, what,” stuttered Rodney, completely caught off guard by the gorgeous man beaming at him. “Who are you anyway?”

“James Carter.”

Rodney had eeped as he realized this shock-haired, long strip of nothing had to be Dr Samantha Carter’s cousin. 

At the time he’d thought how unfair it was for a family to have _two_ sets of pretty genes but now he was fairly sure the reason James looked completely unrelated to Samantha Carter was because he _was_ completely unrelated to Samantha Carter.

Back then, he had jumped to his feet and, blushing and blustering, offered to show James around the lab. Somehow lab-showing had continued on to dinner-sharing with miraculous ease. Rodney really wasn’t used to things going so well so when he had invited James back to his apartment to watch DVDs it genuinely had been because anyone who maintained ‘Back to the Future’ was a classic of the sci-fi genre clearly needed their education expanding.

James, however, had turned up his nose up at the ‘Wormhole Extreme’ DVD, setting his chin and saying,

“Hell no, we can do better than that.”

As Rodney prepared to defend his favorite show, James slid one arm around his waist and kissed him with a smooth flick of an expert tongue. Caught completely off guard, Rodney opened his mouth in surprise and James slipped his tongue inside.

Rodney was caught up in a dizzy spell of ‘oh my god I must be dreaming because there’s no way something this great can really be happening to me’ as James waltzed them across the room until the back of Rodney’s knees hit the couch.

He sat down abruptly. James nudged him until he lay down, then settled in between his legs.

“You want to fuck me?” he asked as he started work on Rodney’s shirt with nimble fingers.

“Oh thank heavens, you talk. I never worked out the gay mafia’s signals for that sort of thing. My gaydar malfunctions pretty much permanently too. Which is why I tend to stick women, they only slap you, usually anyway, and I’m getting better at avoiding that, mostly... Hey, where are you going?”

James had sat up and was smiling down at him. “Has anybody ever told you talk a lot when you’re nervous?”

“Not as such no, I expect that might explain some of the slaps though.”

“Well I can pretty much guarantee I’m never going to slap you. But look, Rodney, you don’t have to do this.”

“Oh no, you do _not _get to have a sudden lapse into sanity. Come back here right now.”__

__“If you insist.” James fluttered his lashes coyly and Rodney laughed._ _

__“Does that look actually work?”_ _

__“Lots of times.” James folded his arms huffily but didn’t stop smiling._ _

__“Presumably on guys who have never actually spoken to you.”_ _

__“Oh and the insulting people thing works so much better.”_ _

__“Got you here didn’t it,” challenged Rodney._ _

__“Disturbingly, smug is a good look for you.”_ _

__“Uh,” he stumbled._ _

__James grinned, “I’ll have to remember that. How to render Rodney McKay speechless, compliment him.” He stripped off his t-shirt in one swift move to reveal a long chest covered in the most touchable looking dark hair._ _

__Rodney could barely breathe, let alone speak._ _

__“Clearly nakedness also works,” smirked James._ _

__“Now who’s being smug.”_ _

__“I have a lot to be smug about.”_ _

__Dragging his attention from James’ chest to his face, Rodney was relieved to see James knew he was being outrageous but that didn’t mean Rodney had to put up with it._ _

__“Come here you.” Rearing up, he looped his arms around James’ back and tugged until James toppled over._ _

__“Mmm,” he sighed as he rubbed his whole body against Rodney’s. Rodney ran his hands down James’ back, luxuriating in the warm weight pressing him into the couch. James rubbed his cheek against Rodney’s, then lifted his head slightly._ _

__“Hey there,” he said. He was too close for Rodney to see his mouth but he could tell he was smiling by the way his eyes crinkled at the corners._ _

__“Hi,” said Rodney inanely._ _

__James kissed him again, a soft press of lips and a light flick of a coaxing tongue. The contrast to his earlier forcefulness was stark and Rodney could only think James had feared he would turn him down, not that Rodney was thinking very much at all because, oh, James was an outstanding kisser._ _

__Happily breathless, he pulled back to run his hands through James’ wild hair and pressed another kiss to his smirking lips, just because._ _

__James propped himself up on his forearms and stared down at him._ _

__“You’re gorgeous.”_ _

__“Me?” Rodney blinked in surprise. “You’re the gorgeous one.” He stared at James’ flushed face and kiss-swollen mouth. “God your mouth, it’s made for – ”_ _

__“I know. Cock-sucking. I’ve heard that one before.”_ _

__Rodney winced, “Uh, I was going to say kissing,” he stuttered. “But I’m sure you’re very good at the other thing too,” he added hastily._ _

__The face above him went still and green eyes grew narrow. Rodney tentatively placed an appealing hand on James’ shoulder and wished that just for once he could stop himself from putting his foot in his mouth._ _

__Suddenly James’ face lit up in the most lethally beautiful smile Rodney had ever seen. He was pretty sure his heart actually stopped beating for a second. Before he could protest and demand to know if James carried a defibrillator for smile induced heart failure, the smile grew decidedly sultry._ _

__“When I think about it, it’s only fair you have a basis for comparison.”_ _

__Then James was inching his way down Rodney’s body and Rodney couldn’t say anything at all._ _

__

__The next morning he’d woken up to find green eyes studying him intently. Yelping with surprise he pulled away. James sat up but didn’t say anything._ _

__“What?” Rodney demanded, angry and self-conscious at the scrutiny._ _

__James closed his eyes. “Nothing. It’s okay.”_ _

__“Um,” said Rodney, because James was obviously having some sort of a moment and he felt he should say something intelligent and comforting but had no idea how to go about it. Thankfully, before his brain sprained itself, James reopened his eyes and smiled,_ _

__“You want pancakes?”_ _

__“Yes, yes. Pancakes would be great. I’m hypoglycemic you know. Oh wait I told you that yesterday. Didn’t I? Did I? Because I should have done, it’s…” Rodney gulped to a halt as he realized relief at such an easy question was making him babble incoherently._ _

__James’ smile had deepened into an expression Rodney would come to recognize as fond indulgence._ _

__“Yes Rodney, you might have mentioned it once or twice. So, pancakes.”_ _

__He pulled his jeans on and, ignoring Rodney’s imprecations to put on a shirt for God’s sake before you end up hideously burned and are you demented, everybody knows bare feet in a kitchen are bad news, turned the dubious contents of Rodney’s fridge into a meal fit for the gods._ _

__Three pancakes later and Rodney’s eyes had glazed over with pleasure._ _

__“Sexy as hell _and_ you can cook. I’m definitely keeping you.”_ _

__James flushed and looked down at the table-top._ _

__“Be nice if someone did,” he mumbled._ _

__Rodney managed to choke back his first impulsively tactless words of disbelief. “Feel free to hang around as long as you like.” He waved his hands to emphasize the point and watched in dismay as the piece of pancake on his fork flew through the air to splat against the wall._ _

__James sniffed, “If you didn’t like them you just had to say so. There’s no need to throw it across the kitchen.”_ _

__“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” Rodney caught the grin in James’ eyes, “Bastard.” He fixed the last strip of pancake on his fork and flicked it at James, who caught it easily and tilted his head back to swallow it down._ _

__“I guess that means you don’t want seconds,” he teased, as he licked his long fingers._ _

__“Seconds of what?” asked Rodney, eyes fixed on James’ mouth._ _

__“Oh,”_ _

__Rodney grinned in delight as James’ blush spread to the tips of his ears._ _

__“Well I meant pancakes, but that’s good too.”_ _

__Rodney got both and arrived late at the lab for the first time ever. He spent the day berating himself as an idiot for twitching every time the phone rang. The hope James would call him, never very strong, had faded completely by the time Radek threw him out the lab to “Get some sleep Rodney, so tomorrow I can work without fear of sudden big boom.”_ _

__Reluctantly returning home, he expected a dark, empty apartment and a sulking cat. Instead he followed an enticing smell into his brightly lit kitchen and found James._ _

__His face was scrunched up as he puzzled over one of Rodney’s physics texts, his chair propped at an impossible angle balanced by his feet up on the kitchen table. The cat, purring like a well-oiled engine, was a contented bundle on his lap._ _

__The kitchen door slammed as it slipped from Rodney’s suddenly clumsy fingers. James jumped and just caught himself before he toppled off the chair. The cat hit the floor on all four paws with a disgusted screech. James smiled entreatingly._ _

__“Oh hey Rodney, I, uh, wasn’t sure what time you’d be back, figured you’d be late, so I made casserole.”_ _

__Rodney blinked at the apparition._ _

__“Why are you still here?” he demanded blankly._ _

__“I, sorry,” James’ shoulders hunched up self-protectively, “when you left this morning you said I could stay as long as I liked.”_ _

__“I meant an hour or two so you could have a shower.” Rodney was used to one-night stands vanishing so fast they could more properly be called one-evening stands. Hanging around long enough to make dinner the next day was completely outside of his experience._ _

__“Sorry.” James hadn’t actually moved but he seemed be shrinking away before Rodney’s eyes. Abruptly it dawned on Rodney that he might be sounding less than welcoming._ _

__“No, no,” he said hastily, slicing his hands through the air in negation, “it’s fine, great even. You surprised me, that’s all.”_ _

__“Good surprise?”_ _

__“Wonderful surprise,” said Rodney quietly as it truly began to sink in that James was really there._ _

__He quirked one eyebrow, “Me or the casserole?”_ _

__Rodney elbowed him in the side. “The casserole of course.”_ _

__James had laughed, loud and hideous like a braying donkey. It cracked the aura of the perfection around him, making him human and real and Rodney had felt weirdly protective all of a sudden._ _

__They got a trifle distracted after that and ended up burning the casserole. James had eyed the smoking black mess in disbelief._ _

__“But you can’t burn a casserole,” he repeated again and again like a scratched CD as he cleared up the mess and Rodney called for take-out. Which was closed. So they had ‘fried gunk’, James’ inelegant description of a cheese and something combination that thankfully tasted much better than it looked._ _

__By then it was so late and they were so tired that they just collapsed into bed. James fell asleep before Rodney could figure out whether he was supposed to offer sex or not, so he gratefully shelved the whole problem, dropped one arm across James’ chest and joined him._ _

__

__It had still been dark when Rodney had started awake, blinking hard, confused about what had woken him and scared for some reason he didn’t understand. His eyes were darting about the room, looking for what had disturbed him, when a harsh, gurgling cry erupted from the man beside him._ _

__He’d jerked up onto his knees, heart thumping triple time in reaction. James shrieked again as his whole body convulsed._ _

__“Oh God, oh God,” muttered Rodney. “Please be all right. Oh God.” He pinned James to the bed with one hand on his chest, fumbling for the pulse at his throat with the other._ _

__Rage screamed and the floor slammed into Rodney._ _

__Stunned, he blankly lay on scratchy carpet as the world re-orientated around him. After a moment he realized he was the floor beside his bed. Another moment and he remembered James._ _

__Grabbing onto the duvet with shaky hands he pulled himself back up onto the bed. The automatic complaints and the shocked hurt beneath them fell away when he caught sight of his lover._ _

__Sitting up, eyes blind with horror, James was tearing at his chest and arms as if he wanted to rip away the skin._ _

__“Oh no. Oh God. I am so not the person for this,” Rodney wailed, “I don’t know what to do. James, wake up and tell me what to do. Wait. I could call somebody. Yes, good idea. I’ll call Radek. Can you hold off on dying until Radek gets here?”_ _

__He glanced anxiously at James and was unutterably grateful to see the frantic actions had faded away and James was just sitting, head cocked to one side as if he were listening._ _

__“James? James can you hear me?”_ _

__“Rodney?” James sounded disbelieving as his head turned towards him. Rodney shivered as James looked straight through him._ _

__“Yes, yes, I’m, uh, here. Stop scaring me and wake up so I can kill you for taking ten years off my life.”_ _

__“Years off… Oh fuck,” James doubled up, one arm clenched across his stomach, the other hand pressed against his mouth._ _

__“Are you going to throw up?” demanded Rodney suspiciously. “If so, I’d prefer it if you used the bathroom.” He pointed towards the door in case James had forgotten the direction of the ensuite. “And please don’t take it amiss when I don’t come and mop your brow but I get sympathetic heaves. I mean, you’re possibly the hottest person I’ve ever met _and_ you can cook but I think throwing up over the same toilet is taking the togetherness thing too far. And…”_ _

__James made a peculiar hiccupping sound and fled in the direction of the bathroom. Rodney hummed loudly so he didn’t have to listen to James being sick. He straightened up the bed clothes and poked his ribs where he had hit the floor._ _

__He heard the toilet flush and the sound of running water and his panic receded to more manageable levels at the sounds of returning normality._ _

__“I, um, realize I haven’t been much help,” he called to bathroom, “but in my defense you didn’t warn me you have seizures. I may, possibly, have been too busy telling you about my citrus allergy to pay attention, but at least I told you, you didn’t have to wait for me to go into anaphylactic shock, so really, I think a bit of panic is completely justified. Honestly…”_ _

__“Rodney stop,” shouted James, sounding choked._ _

__“What? I’m just trying to explain…”_ _

__“I know, I know,” he emerged from the bathroom rubbing at his face with a towel. “But you don’t need to, it’s fine. You were great.” Under the towel James sounded amused. Rodney glared._ _

__“I think it was most unfair of you to warn me you get seizures,” he said stiffly. James dumped the towel on the dresser. He was smiling but it didn’t seem scornful._ _

__“In my defense,” he joined Rodney on the bed, “I don’t actually get seizures, I do, however, have nightmares. But yes, I suppose I should have warned you.”_ _

__“Nightmares? That was a nightmare? What the hell were you dreaming about?”_ _

__“Monsters,” said James with sour humor._ _

__“Huh. Well I’m sure I would have coped better if I wasn’t still stunned from being thrown across the room.”_ _

__The laughter fled James’ face. “Oh no, Rodney I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”_ _

__Perversely, as soon as James started to take the situation seriously, Rodney wanted his lazy amusement back_ _

__“I’m fine,” he said, “you caught me by surprise, that’s all.”_ _

__“Are you sure? I’m really sorry.” James’ hand reached towards him and then hesitated as if unsure of its welcome._ _

__“I’m fine,” he said roughly, grabbing the hand. “It’s not your fault. And I realize I should have been more sympathetic…”_ _

__“Oh no, you’ve been great, more than great.”_ _

__Rodney looked for the sarcasm but couldn’t find it._ _

__“Frankly,” James continued, “I can do without sympathy that leads to upchucking.”_ _

__Rodney beamed. “My point exactly.”_ _

__“In fact I can pretty much do without sympathy altogether. Try and tell me that everything is okay and I reserve the right to throw you off the bed again.”_ _

__“Why would I do that? If you’ve just had a nightmare everything is manifestly not okay.”_ _

__“My point exactly.”_ _

__“Wow, as impossible as it seems, you’ve already slept with someone more tactless than me. Maybe there’s a chance this won’t end in utter disaster.”_ _

__“You’re completely amazing,” said James, eyes crinkled with amusement and full of warm affection._ _

__Rodney blinked a little because, while he was somewhat used to the epithet unbelievable, amazing had never come his way before. Then James was kissing him. He stood it for a few seconds before pushing him away._ _

__“Yes this is all very nice and I’m glad to finally meet someone who appreciates my sterling worth but – mouthwash.”_ _

__James threw back his head and laughed out loud. Saluting, he snapped out,_ _

__“Sir, yes sir.” Still laughing he staggered off the bed back to the bathroom._ _

__Rodney bounced a little on the bed, he couldn’t have been happier with the return of James good humor than if he’d caused it on purpose. The only problem was, as it hadn’t done it on purpose, he had absolutely no idea how to repeat the effect if James had another nightmare._ _

__That consideration had faded (although later it would come back with a vengeance) when John had emerged from the bathroom and proceeded to demonstrate he was indeed ‘all minty fresh’._ _

__

__That set the pattern for the next few days. Rodney would leave for the lab convinced that day was the day James would be gone but every evening James would be there waiting for him. For once Rodney felt no driving desire for answers. He wanted to enjoy his good fortune for as long as possible before the inconvenient truth intruded._ _

__Returning home to James was quickly becoming the highlight of his day. Usually James was struggling with one of Rodney advanced mathematics tomes, for some reason he had a fixation on the Taniyama-Shimura conjecture._ _

__Once he was cradling the cat against his chest with one hand and poking a wooden spoon at a couple of steaming saucepans with the other. He was singing Johnny Cash ‘One piece at a time’ softly and slightly off-key while his dark head bobbed, and one socked foot tapped out the rhythm._ _

__A quiet epiphany cut through Rodney as he finally understood the vast emptiness between a house and a home._ _

__As he approached, James’ head turned and his whole face lit up._ _

__“Rodney, you’re back.”_ _

__“Hey,” said Rodney, crossing the room to press a kiss those smiling lips. As James turned back to his cooking, Rodney stepped closer, pressing his chest to James’ back and sliding his cold hands under James t-shirt to stroke the smooth skin there. A shudder rippled through James at the chill and he leant back into Rodney’s embrace with a sigh. Slipping his hands down the front of James’ jeans Rodney spread his fingers over the wings of his hips. James shifted, spreading his legs slightly. Rodney caressed soft skin with his thumbs and mouthed at the back of James’ neck just below the hair line._ _

__“Dinner will burn,” said James, letting his head loll to one side. Rodney took advantage of the increased access to run his tongue over the sensitive patch just below James ear. James’ hips twitched and then stilled. Inching his hands lower, Rodney scraped his nails gently through scratchy hair._ _

__“Can’t have that,” he said._ _

__“Uh? Oh dinner, yes burning dinner would be bad.”_ _

__“Better let you go then,” said Rodney, making no move to do so._ _

__“Better had.” James pulled gently against his grip until Rodney reluctantly released him. “Besides I’ve got something to show you.”_ _

__“Good or bad?” he demanded suspiciously, not quite diverted from his desire to pin his boyfriend against the cooker and run his hands over soft, warm James skin until they both came._ _

__“Really cool.”_ _

__“That sounds ominous.”_ _

__“Trust me.”_ _

__“I do,” said Rodney, surprised to find it was the truth despite the fact James had brought enough secrets and lies packed into his overnight bag to take up most of the air in his apartment._ _

__James flinched and his head jerked as if Rodney had slapped him. Turning away, he started to carefully unpick the cat’s claws from his t-shirt, then lowered her carefully to the floor._ _

__“Sorry beautiful, down you go.”_ _

__She flicked her tail at him disdainfully._ _

__“James, stop talking to my cat and come show me whatever it is you think is so important,” grouched Rodney._ _

__“Yes, sorry.” James rose slowly to his feet, all his concentration apparently on dusting black cat hair off his clothes. “It’s okay. It’s not urgent. Would you like dinner first?”_ _

__Rodney ground his teeth against the need to snap at the abrupt appearance of Stepford James._ _

__“No,” he said as calmly as he could manage. “I’ve had another frustrating day at work because my current project appears to be unsolvable. Now I’ve been promised something really cool, so let’s see it. But I’m warning you now, if it’s a flux capacitor I will not be responsible for my actions.”_ _

__James ran one hand through his hair, meekness falling away to reveal an devilish grin,_ _

__“One day Rodney,” he threatened, “I’ll invent one just for the pleasure of seeing your face.”_ _

__Rodney drew breath._ _

__James wagged one finger at him. “Uh-uh, you can list all the ways,” he slipped into a hectoring tone, “’time travel is a nonsensical fallacy invented by hack writers unable to understand the most basic of scientific concepts’ some other time.”_ _

__“If you would just admit I’m right I wouldn’t have to keep repeating myself.”_ _

__He shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe I like listening to you getting all aggravated and spluttery.”_ _

__“No, you just like being annoying.”_ _

__“That too. Now, come see, come see.” He grabbed Rodney’s arm and tugged him across the kitchen._ _

__“Look,” he said proudly, pointing to a mess of wires and plastic._ _

__It took a moment but eventually Rodney identified it as the remains of his microwave._ _

__“It emits microwaves externally now _and_ I increased the intensity.”_ _

__He stared dumbfounded, “And you’re trying to cook your brain, why?”_ _

__James drooped._ _

__“No,” Rodney clutched at his hair. “I mean it’s very impressive, truly. But I’m suddenly filled with fellow feeling for my parents and that just can’t be happening.”_ _

__“You haven’t seen the good part yet. Watch.” He flicked a switch and Rodney heard the familiar hum of a microwave powering up._ _

__“Brain cooking,” he muttered, putting his hands over his head even though he knew it was utterly futile gesture._ _

__James nudged with his elbow. “Pay attention.”_ _

__A repetitive beeping made Rodney glance over at the fridge and he spotted a radiation detector, numbers skyrocketing._ _

__“And?” he said._ _

__“Look,” James pointed at a second detector on the kitchen table, between the microwave and fridge. It was showing no reaction at all._ _

__“Huh.” His eyes narrowed suspiciously, “It is on, I trust.”_ _

__“Yep, and working perfectly. Swap them round if you don’t believe me.”_ _

__“Hmm, that’s almost ingenious.”_ _

__James whole body bounced slightly at the compliment and his smile took on an extra shine._ _

__The radiation detector’s beeping took on a frantic edge. Rodney glanced towards it and saw the slightest shimmer in the air. The frequency of the radiation was oscillating towards the visible spectrum._ _

__“Oh cool,” said James, “it didn’t do that before.”_ _

__The detector emitted a grinding shriek and the display went blank. Rodney was about to suggest turning the microwave off, when the fan started to hiccup before cutting out altogether. The microwave started to smoke._ _

__“Uh Rodney, I don’t think that’s a good sign.”_ _

__Rodney was already moving for the sand buckets he kept by the back door for such electronics related emergencies. Grabbing one, he hurried back and emptied it over what was left of the crackling microwave. It hissed despairingly before going inert._ _

__Nose twitching at the unmistakable odor of burnt plastic, Rodney grabbed a folded up newspaper and flicked the detector off the fridge into the bucket where it wouldn’t do any damage even if its circuits were more damaged than he thought._ _

__James had opened the windows and was flapping his hands despairingly at the acrid smoke._ _

__“I’m really sorry Rodney,” he apologized, “I didn’t think it would do that.”_ _

__Rodney stared at his crest-fallen face._ _

__“What the hell are you pouting about?” he demanded, “You can’t expect experimental technology to work immediately.”_ _

__“No, but I kinda destroyed your kitchen.”_ _

__“Don’t be stupid, this is nothing. The table’s not even scorched.”_ _

__“But your microwave.”_ _

__Rodney glared at his exasperating boyfriend. “James would you please stop fussing about an easily replaceable piece of kitchen equipment and tell me exactly what you did to get such intriguing results.” A horrid thought struck him, “You can reproduce the results, can’t you? Tell me you weren’t so moronic as to fail to take notes?”_ _

__“Of course I took notes,” snapped James._ _

__He winced guiltily, “Sorry, that was an awful thing to say. But I’ve been mentally scared by all the cretins I’ve had to deal with.”_ _

__James was smiling his ‘you are amazing’ smile. Rodney really liked that smile but he was never sure what he did to deserve it._ _

__

__All things considered it was alarming similar to Rodney’s previous dating disasters while at the same time being utterly different. Everything was different with James._ _

__

__Rodney sighed as returned to his equations. He had to finish this now. He couldn’t keep letting himself get distracted by James. Sam wasn’t stupid, she’d know something was up, probably knew already, hence the phone call._ _

__Because it had been too good to last._ _

__The day after the exploding microwave, James had wandered into the lab, taken one look at the Sheppard Equation and said,_ _

__“Hey, have you thought about this?” He grabbed another marker and sketched out a quick graphical equation._ _

__“Of course,” sneered Rodney, too touchy about his work to humor his imbecilic boyfriend, and he drew out a rebuttal, stabbing the final letters into place._ _

__“But what about?” James smudged out half the equation with the side of his hand and rewrote it assuming a particular non-Euclidean geometry and forty-two dimensions._ _

__“Don’t be ridiculous. How can you possibly justify making such an assumption?”_ _

__“Because it works, look.”_ _

__Rodney watched the numbers fall out of James’ adjustments. “It’s almost there,” he admitted, “but not quite. Wait,” he shoved James out the way and rejigged things, “there. That’s better. But still not quite right.”_ _

__He turned away from the board in irritation, caught sight of his boyfriend’s dark head of spiky hair and remembered it bent over the books on the Taniyama-Shimura conjecture. _Taniyama-Shimura…_ _ _

__He snapped his fingers. “Modularity theorem.”_ _

__James nodded but Rodney was already lost. He could see it now that James had shown him the way, could visualize the elegant intersection of multiple dimensions as they twisted around to form a self-contained region of subspace time. Writing it down was harder, almost painful to reduce such beauty to a handful of symbols on a whiteboard, and yet, at the same time deeply satisfying to order, reshape and scrape away until the theory shone free in its crystal clear purity._ _

__“There,” he said finally, stepping back from the board. His body came back him in the cramp of his hand and the ache in his right shoulder stretching all the way down his spine. Clamping his left hand to the twinging muscle, he smiled with the satisfaction of knowing, although it would need polishing, he had done solid work._ _

__“Fuck, but you’re good at this.”_ _

__He flinched, he’d forgotten he wasn’t alone. Turning he saw James shaking his head incredulously, watching him with awe._ _

__“Obviously,” Rodney huffed. “Hello, genius here.”_ _

__James smiled ruefully and he had an unexpected attack of contrition._ _

__“Not that you weren’t good too. I mean given your lack of training, you must tell me who supervised you because clearly they shouldn’t be allowed near students, really your idea was almost inspired.” He ground to an abrupt halt, mouth flapping as he tried to draw breath, because James’ idea _was_ inspired, too inspired. There was no way on earth this could be the first time he had seen the Sheppard Equation. Thinking about it, he’d probably known about it longer than Rodney had._ _

__A small part of Rodney exulted in the knowledge he’d beaten James to a solution. A larger part was bursting with pride at how close James had come to solving the Equation on his own, because he’d been on the right track with the modularity theorem but hadn’t quite had the ability to put it together. Not just a pretty face his boyfriend, hot and smart, Rodney’s favorite combination._ _

__But most of Rodney was caught up in hearing the other shoe drop with a deadening thump._ _

__James was watching him intently, something wild and wary in his stillness. The air froze in Rodney’s lungs as he realized all it would take was a word or two from him to shatter everything irrevocably. To his horror he found his mouth refused to even shape the words. Instead, almost independently of thought, he said,_ _

__“But not as inspired as me, of course.”_ _

__“Of course not,” said James agreeably, the feral light fading slowly from his face to be replaced by a grim seriousness._ _

__“Rodney,” he started, scrubbing uncomfortably at the back of neck_ _

__“Shut up.”_ _

__“I…”_ _

__“I said shut up,” snarled Rodney._ _

__“But…”_ _

__“Shut the fuck up.” The palms of hands itched to do violence and he rubbed them fiercely against his thighs. He wasn’t going to allow anyone, not even James, to ruin this._ _

__His boyfriend closed his eyes and dipped his head in submission. When he looked up he was grinning._ _

__“You know,” he said conversationally, “you’ve got a smudge of ink just to left of your nose.” He reached out and Rodney held still, expecting him to brush away the ink, instead the marker flashed along his right cheek._ _

__“There,” said James, “now you match.” He backed quickly away in expectation of revenge._ _

__Rodney waved his hands through the air. “What are you? Five?”_ _

__James pouted. Two fast steps forward and Rodney got him across the forehead. James jerked his head in surprise and the line zigzagged._ _

__“Hah. Green eyes, spiky hair, lightning-bolt scar. We just need Miko’s glasses and you’d be Harry Potter.”_ _

__“Right then Malfoy. You’re going down.” James waved his marker through the air with what the charitably inclined might call a wandly flourish. Unfortunately it left Rodney laughing too hard to defend himself with much success._ _

__Radek had come in just as James pinned Rodney to the lab floor and rucked up his t-shirt so he could scrawl Maxwell’s equations across his stomach._ _

__“Stop twitching,” James demanded. “You’re about to change the speed of light and then where will we be.”_ _

__“Depends, faster or slower? And it tickles,” he whined. James grinned toothily at him and the marker circled his belly button. Rodney giggled and tried to pretend he hadn’t because it sounded so undignified._ _

__“I cannot look,” said Radek, startling them both._ _

__James pulled away and Rodney sat up, yanking his t-shirt back into decorum. Radek stood in the doorway, hands over his eyes._ _

__“Is it safe?” he asked._ _

__“Radek,” Rodney complained._ _

__“Good. Is a respectable lab, not Roman orgy. Go home and celebrate breakthrough by doing filthy things with markers away from innocent eyes.”_ _

__“Sir, yes sir,” said James jumping to his feet, dragging Rodney with him. Rodney glared,_ _

__“Radek, don’t even pretend I don’t know what you and Miko do in lab 5 while waiting for the simulations to run.”_ _

__“You wish to argue with me, or go home with piece of hot stuff?” he looked down his nose at James._ _

__James laughed out loud._ _

__Rodney glowered, “Stop embarrassing me.”_ _

__“That was rhetorical question Rodney,” said Radek._ _

__“Come on,” said James towing Rodney towards the door, “if you admit out loud that you prefer a good argument to sex with me, my ego will never recover.”_ _

__“Now that is just ridiculous. Your ego is indestructible, it’s like a horror movie monster.”_ _

__“That was before I met you. You are the garlic to my vampire.”_ _

__Radek hadn’t quite shut the door and Rodney heard his laughter follow them down the stairs._ _

__Their argument had continued all the way home and into bed, as they playfully wrestled for dominance and rolled right out of bed to slam into the floor._ _

__James landed on his back with a pained grunt. Rodney managed to land most his weight on his knees and forearms, which he’d pay for later, instead of crushing James._ _

__“What is it with you and beds?” he asked, once the wheezing and gasping and laughing had faded enough to speak, “I never had such disastrous sex before I hooked up with you.”_ _

__“Me neither,” James snapped back._ _

__“Hey,” objected Rodney because that wasn’t what he meant at all. He dipped his head down to rub his cheek against James’, “I also never laughed so much before.”_ _

__“Me neither.” James’ eyes went soft and unfocused and he kissed Rodney fiercely._ _

__James didn’t have any nightmares that night_ _

__

__But not even hot sex could stop Rodney’s brain working on a problem and, although he didn’t want to think it, wouldn’t let James say it; he knew it was the Sheppard Equation that had brought James to him._ _

__Which was why he’d been delaying finishing his work on their implications. He had solved it three days after James had given him that insight, but had continued working on the incredible power source implied by the theory. It had to be this application of the Sheppard Equation that had everyone, Sam Carter and James both, so interested. It would be a power source like none other._ _

__Rodney reluctantly sketched in the last details. Radek and Miko would probably have some ideas on how to construct a container and then all Rodney would have to do was figure out how to charge it. It would so easy. If he called Sam now, he knew she’d have the paperwork for him to sign by morning. They could name their price to the US military for the production of an experimental model. The Nobel would be theirs in less than five years. Sam might even kiss in him in gratitude and excitement._ _

__And that was the problem right there. He didn’t want Sam to kiss him. He wanted James and only James. James who wanted the Sheppard Equation._ _

__“Rodney?”_ _

__Looking up from his dejected slouch, Rodney forced his lips into a smile for his friend._ _

__“Hi.”_ _

__“Rodney.”_ _

__There was a flatness to Radek’s voice that made him flinch in expectation. “Yes?”_ _

__“I have just finished speaking to Colonel Carter.”_ _

__“What?” Rodney demanded indignantly. “What was she talking to you for? I’m the theoretical genius in this partnership.”_ _

__“Military is applied science. Do not forget that Rodney.”_ _

__“No, I was just thinking about that actually. So why was Sam calling you? Did she ask about me?”_ _

__“Yes.”_ _

__“Oh,” said Rodney blankly. He’d actually been expecting Radek to start teasing him about his egotism, not such a bald affirmative._ _

__“She asks how you have been doing. She asks if there are any strangers about the lab.”_ _

__“Oh,” squeaked Rodney. “And you told her?”_ _

__“I told her your work suffers because of your mad infatuation with her cousin.”_ _

__“Radek!”_ _

__“What can I say Rodney? She already knows something is wrong. You are not a good poker player my friend.”_ _

__“But –”_ _

__“Come. You are not idiot, for all you make idiot eyes at the man who calls himself James Carter.”_ _

__“Radek,” Rodney protested miserably._ _

__“And I am not idiot. His business does not exist. The address does not exist. The phone routes straight to mobile...”_ _

__“Yes, yes, I can use Google too. I know all this Radek. In addition he apparently hasn’t received so much as a single speeding ticket, which given the way he drives would require some serious divine intervention.”_ _

__“And Dr Carter has no cousins.”_ _

__“I _know_ Radek.”_ _

__“He is a plant. First I think he wants money. But he is pretty; there are easier, richer men.”_ _

__“Thank you Radek,” said Rodney snidely._ _

__Radek shrugged his shoulders. “Is true. And he knows too much. He knows Sheppard Equation. He knows Colonel Carter as a person, not just a female military scientist.”_ _

__Rodney nodded. James didn’t talk about his supposed cousin very much, but when he did he spoke of her as someone who knew Sam, not as someone who had vaguely heard of the brilliant Colonel Carter. And he didn’t seem to like her much, which surprised Rodney because everybody liked Sam._ _

__“He wants the Sheppard Equation but also, I think, you. Miko agrees, so we do not accidentally electrocute him.”_ _

__“Radek, you can’t just go around electrocuting people.”_ _

__“This is an experimental facility; it would be tragic mistake, very sad.” Radek wiped at one completely dry eye._ _

__“Right, right. Moving on, because your latent homicidal tendencies are extremely disturbing if slightly touching, what else did you say to Sam?”_ _

__“I say you and her cousin discuss equations but come no closer to solving them.” Radek glanced up at the whiteboard with its completed formulas. “I say I do not like her cousin and I worry for you. She promises to come tomorrow and speak to her cousin. Funny thing,” Radek smiled humorlessly, “I call him J Carter, she calls him John.”_ _

__“John huh? Do you think that’s his real name?”_ _

__“Why else would Colonel Carter make such a mistake.”_ _

__“Huh. He kinda looks like a John.” Rodney hugged the secret close to himself, he hadn’t realized how much the idea of not knowing James’ real name was bothering him._ _

__“Rodney now is no time to daydream over lying boyfriend. Colonel Carter will be here tomorrow. Take head out of the sand and make decision.”_ _

__“How am I supposed to make a decision? I’m not even sure what his name is. How can I be falling…” Rodney cut himself off because there were some things he was just not prepared to admit out loud, even to Radek._ _

__“Are you not scientist? Go, gather data. And here.” Radek shoved a mobile phone into his resisting hand._ _

__“What’s this for?”_ _

__“Military are very sneaky. Miko bought new, unregistered phones to ensure sneaky military cannot listen unless you want them to. Speed dial one. Call me if you need somebody electrocuted or – Call me.”_ _

__“Thanks,” said Rodney awkwardly._ _

__“Call me. I will be very upset if anyone else works with you on equation’s power generation capabilities. Miko is already planning circuits. She thinks solid-state crystals.”_ _

__“Interesting, it would take…”_ _

__“Decision Rodney,” said Radek sternly, “before military arrive to shoot people.”_ _

__“Yes, decision. You’re right. I’ll go and talk to James.”_ _

__Radek nodded and left._ _

__Rodney sighed and started to tidy up his lab. Gathering every scrap of paper with evidence of his success, he bundled it into his laptop case. Then he scrubbed down all his whiteboards and wrote some of his original speculations back in. He cleaned out his hard drive on the server and wondered if should speak to Radek about some accidental power fluctuations._ _

__The phone Radek had pressed on him rang._ _

__“Yes.”_ _

__“Hurry up Rodney, tragic and accidental fire will be starting in fifteen minutes.”_ _

__“Isn’t that being a little thorough?”_ _

__“Will confuse Military and remove evidence, all good things. Also lying boyfriend can die in fire if necessary. Maybe you too. This is not safe Rodney.”_ _

__Rodney bit his lip. He had a second Manhattan project in his laptop case. It was definitely not safe. “And how are you going to explain blowing up the lab?”_ _

__“Stop insulting Miko.”_ _

__“My apologies. Your wife is a genius.”_ _

__“I know. Also she is very punctual.”_ _

__“I’m going, I’m going. Tell Miko thanks.”_ _

__“Lying boyfriend better be worth all this trouble.” Radek hung up._ _

__“He is,” said Rodney to his dead phone. He thrust the phone into his pocket, grabbed his case and hurried out the lab. Before heading outside he pulled up the hood of his sweatshirt. There was no point ruining all of Radek’s efforts to help him disappear by getting caught on CCTV._ _

__With that thought in mind he caught a taxi from the nearby rank to a street a block across of his apartment and fussed with the bags until the driver was out of sight before walking towards his apartment._ _

__On his way he passed the strange dread-locked giant who’d taken to hanging around the area. Rodney was rather frightened of him, he was huge, and had wanted to call the police but James had laughed at him and Rodney had seen James talking to the giant once or twice. Now the giant drifted across the road towards him and Rodney walked faster. The giant paced him without getting any closer but it was with a burst of relief that Rodney reached the main door of apartment complex._ _

__He hurried inside and up to his apartment door. He stopped in surprise, there was a thumping base beat echoing through the wood, rattling the door in its frame. Unlocking it Rodney stuck his head gingerly inside and shouted,_ _

__“Honey, I’m home.”_ _

__“Rodney!” yelled a voice over the noise masquerading as music. It might have been James but the racket was too great for Rodney to be sure. The music faded to more reasonable levels and James strode into view, beaming all over his face._ _

__“Rodney, you’re home early. Come in, I was just explaining to Teyla the difference between thrash and techno.”_ _

__“You being the expert here?”_ _

__“Well not so much. I had to ask the guy at the store. But it’s all good.”_ _

__Then Teyla appeared, looking exhilarated, breathless and so beautiful that Rodney was suddenly reminded his Kinsey score wasn’t actually that low._ _

__“All this music,” she gasped, “it’s amazing.”_ _

__Rodney studied James, hardly able to believe he wasn’t affected by the presence of such a gorgeous women but James just appeared completely thrilled that Teyla was enjoying herself._ _

__“Don’t look so worried,” said James, “I played some of your stuff too, she really liked Sibelius.”_ _

__“It reminded me of home,” said Teyla, sadness creeping into her voice._ _

__James’ face fell._ _

__“And this techno, or thrash, or whatever, you liked this too?” asked Rodney, wondering when his life had become about trying to get other people to smile so that James would too._ _

__“Oh yes,” said Teyla grinning again. “And, what did you call it?”_ _

__“Electro-funk psychedelia,” said James, “according to the sleeve notes anyway. I’m not in a position to argue.”_ _

__He and Teyla beamed at each other._ _

__Rodney shook his head. He had met Teyla for the first time the day after James had triggered his solution of the Sheppard Equation. He’d come home to find James and a strange woman sacked out on the sofa together. James had one arm around the woman and her head rested against his shoulder. They were disheveled, sweaty and more than half-asleep._ _

__Rodney had played that particular scenario out more than once so he knew exactly what to say. But some reason this time there was no flood of righteous anger, just an odd prickling in his eyes that felt disturbingly like tears._ _

__As if flipped by a switch, their eyes blinked open to stare at him. Rodney swallowed hard and tried not to react._ _

__James, his whole face brightening, sprang up from the sofa so quickly the woman was momentarily unbalanced. He bounded over to Rodney grinning widely._ _

__“Rodney,” he called gladly, “You’re home early, I wasn’t expecting you for ages yet. Come and meet Teyla.”_ _

__Rodney had choked, he’d recognized the name from James’ nightmares. He wasn’t sure what was going on but James wasn’t doing the talking to the back of his hand thing he did when he was lying. Not that James exactly talked about his nightmares._ _

__In fact James didn’t talk much about his past at all. So never having mentioned Teyla before wasn’t automatically suspicious. Rodney began to feel he might have jumped to conclusions about Teyla’s presence because assuming James had such a prosaic reason for doing anything was blindingly stupid. Nothing about James was remotely normal._ _

__“Rodney this is Teyla, my,” James glanced down and brushed his knuckles across his mouth, “secretary.”_ _

__Rodney knew he didn’t have much room to talk, but James sucked so badly at lying it was actually embarrassing. Not only did he telegraph the fact he was telling them, they were all completely unbelievable. Teyla was the least likely secretary Rodney’d ever met. But then James was the least likely international franchise selling business man (James had chewed one knuckle raw during the ludicrous explanation, Rodney hadn’t asked again) he’d ever met, so maybe things evened out._ _

__“And fag hag.” James hand dropped away as he grinned provocatively at Teyla._ _

__“That does not sound pleasant, James,” said Teyla but she ruined her cool disapproval by almost smiling._ _

__“You’re my best friend aren’t you?”_ _

__“Yes,” she admitted warily._ _

__“And I’m gay?”_ _

__“Very,” she said dryly. Her mouth was fixed in a smooth line but the rest of her face was grinning._ _

__“That makes you my fag hag.”_ _

__Teyla wrinkled her nose and Rodney had feeling they’d be discussing the concept in greater depth once Teyla had convinced some kind soul to define fag hag more precisely for her. He was tempted to do it himself just to watch James squirm._ _

__“And,” he tucked his arm through Rodney’s, urging him forwards, “this is Rodney.” James sounded so pleased and proud that Rodney blushed._ _

__“Hi,” he mumbled._ _

__“It is nice to meet you Rodney,” said Teyla, “James has told me so much about you. I’m pleased we are able to meet at last.”_ _

__“Uh really?”_ _

__James was glancing anxiously between them and Rodney realized how important it was to his boyfriend that they like each other._ _

__“It’s nice to meet you too,” he added._ _

__“We’ll have to talk privately sometime,” said Teyla, “and I can tell you all James’ secrets.”_ _

__“Hey, no ganging up on me,” cried James, but he looked pleased rather dismayed at the idea._ _

__“I’ll look forward to it,” promised Rodney and was rewarded by James squeezing his arm._ _

__“I must go.” Teyla collected her bag and that just proved Rodney’s point about her not being a secretary because no secretary used a military kitbag as a purse. “I’ll leave you to enjoy your evening. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”_ _

__“You’re leaving the field wide open there, Teyla,” teased James._ _

__She grinned naughtily, “I would not want Rodney to get bored with you J-James.”_ _

__James glared, Rodney laughed and Teyla let herself out._ _

__“So you liked Teyla then,” James had said would-be-casual after dinner._ _

__“She seemed very nice. And she promised to tell me secrets.” Rodney wasn’t holding out much hope for that but it was nice idea._ _

__“I can see I’m going to regret introducing the two of you.” James stretched out one arm towards him and then pulled it back sharply._ _

__“Ow shit.”_ _

__“What? Are you all right?”_ _

__“I pulled a muscle working with Teyla, ow, I bet it got bruised too.” Grumbling to himself James stripped of his t-shirt._ _

__“Working with Teyla?”_ _

__“Oh, um, yeah, she’s a keep-fit instructor.”_ _

__“Right,” said Rodney. A keep-fit instructor _and_ a secretary. Sometimes he wondered if James wanted to be caught out because honestly, there was a limit to how oblivious Rodney could pretend to be. He nearly said something but then he caught sight of the ugly purple bruises scattered across James’ torso._ _

__James poked one particular mark and hissed. “Yeah, bruised.”_ _

__“You’ve bruises all over. What the hell were you doing?”_ _

__“Just training Rodney, I’m fine.”_ _

__“You are not fine. You are going straight to bed. Jesus, I think I’d prefer it if that woman was fucking your brains out rather than beating you up.”_ _

__“Don’t talk about Teyla like that,” snapped James. “They’re just training bruises. It’s been a while and I was out of practice.”_ _

__Rodney had him in the bedroom by then and was quickly getting them both naked. He didn’t want to think about what James might be training for that justified such a battering, he only knew he couldn’t take James being hurt._ _

__“Fine then.” He glared at James indignant face. “You get her here every day and practice. I am not coming home to find you covered in bruises ever again. Understand.”_ _

__“Rodney, I…”_ _

__“Shut up and get into bed.”_ _

__Once they were safely under the covers, James said._ _

__“Rodney?”_ _

__“Go to sleep.”_ _

__“I,” he started and then bit viciously at the knuckle joint of his first finger._ _

__Rodney shifted, settling James more easily against his chest. Running his hand through the soft, spiky hair, he pressed James’ face into the crook of his neck._ _

__“Shut up and go to sleep,” he ordered softly._ _

__James was silent for a long time and then he said quietly into Rodney’s shoulder, “If you ask me, I’ll tell you.”_ _

__Rodney figured he could get away with pretending to be asleep, so that was what he did._ _

__That night when James woke up he was screaming Rodney’s name._ _

__

__He saw Teyla quite frequently after that but she usually left soon after he arrived. Rodney thought that might be because she was, incredible as it seemed, an even worse liar than James. He’d caught her stumbling on James’ name several times and she always seemed vaguely apologetic when she looked at Rodney._ _

__Tonight though he wanted to talk to them both. He had no idea what James’ plans were but he was sure they involved Teyla somehow._ _

__Putting up one hand to cut off her tactful retreat, he said,_ _

__“Actually I’m glad you’re here Teyla, I need to talk to you both. I spoke to Samantha Carter today.”_ _

__Teyla glanced sharply at James. His face tightened, going grim and strained around his eyes and mouth._ _

__“Teyla, run and get Ronon.”_ _

__As soon as the door closed behind her, James turned to him,_ _

__“Look Rodney, there’s no earthly reason for you to believe me, but you have to know, have to understand...” Losing the struggle to find words, James dropped his head and flung himself away from to stare out at the street._ _

__Rodney took a deep breath._ _

__“John?” he asked carefully._ _

__“Yes?” said James instantly, then he flinched. “Shit. Rodney let me explain.”_ _

__“No. There’s only one thing I want to know,” he said steadily, “John, did you mean what you said that night I met Teyla?”_ _

__“What I said? Oh,” John’s cheeks burnt red. “Yes, for what it’s worth, yes I did.”_ _

__He had been watching carefully but although John couldn’t quite make himself look Rodney in the eye, John’s hands stayed well clear of his mouth. In fact they were tucked behind his back as John fell into a sort of parade rest, like a solider waiting to be bawled out._ _

__Before Rodney could sort through the contradictory need to shout at, kiss, punch and comfort John, the door flew open and Teyla rushed back followed by dreadlocked giant._ _

__“Ah,” said Rodney, “so he _is_ on your side then.”_ _

__“Rodney, Ronon,” said John hastily, “Ronon, this is Rodney.”_ _

__“What did he tell her?” demanded the giant._ _

__“Listen you,” said Rodney, “I’ll have you know Radek and I did our best to stall her. I admit I’m not good at lying but we’re heading into pretty serious glass house territory there.”_ _

__“We need to go,” said Ronon turning sharply on John._ _

__“I know. I know. But we’re so close.” John looked agonized. “Rodney is so close, I know he is.”_ _

__Teyla gritted her teeth. “We must go,” she said. She was hiding it better than John but Rodney thought she was just as disappointed._ _

__“It was always a long shot,” said Ronon gruffly._ _

__“We could...” John began._ _

__“That was not what we decided,” Teyla’s face was firm._ _

__“But,”_ _

__“Does Dr McKay deserve to give up his life for a maybe?”_ _

__“No.” John bowed his head. “But Rodney can do it, I know he can.”_ _

__Rodney couldn’t stand the torn defeat on John’s face a second longer._ _

__“Of course I can,” he said fussily, “I can do anything. And if you’re talking about the Sheppard Equation, I’ve done it. The solution is right here,” he patted his case. “Including all the formulae for the power source I’m assuming you’re so interested in.”_ _

__It was a struggle to keep his put-out genius indignation in place because this was when he would find out if his theory of James turned John was correct._ _

__Because while Rodney believed he had the man in front of him all figured out, there was a second theory that matched the data, explained past behavior and made verifiable predictions._ _

__And unfortunately Occam’s razor favored the second theory. There was no logical reason for John to be acting as the most incompetent Mata Hari ever. The least complicated explanation was that he was a spy who was simply very good at getting people to trust him._ _

__All Rodney had to argue against Occam was the feeling that unlikely, complicated and John went together like graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate._ _

__But feelings were not science._ _

__Now that he had admitted his work was done, Occam’s John would have no more use for him. As silence grew suffocating, Rodney licked his dry lips and hoped the man he couldn’t quite look at was _his_ John._ _

__“Oh my God Rodney, you did it.”_ _

__John’s body was suddenly hard against his and they were tumbling to the floor in a crunchingly enthusiastic tackle. Rodney relaxed, this was his John. Trying to gasp with relief and happiness, he found he couldn’t._ _

__“Ow,” he shoved at the steel bands compressing his chest. “Let me up you idiot.”_ _

__John ignored him pressing kisses all over his face. “Oh God Rodney. We can go _home_.”_ _

__“Home,” Teyla whispered longingly. Then she was pushing John out the way and kneeling in front of Rodney, placing her hands on his shoulders and pressing their foreheads together. Rodney didn’t understand the benediction but the fragile wonder of it made him want to squirm uncomfortably. He held still though and then Teyla was repeating the action with John. As their foreheads touched, they both seemed to slump._ _

__“Home,” keened John._ _

__“Home,” repeated Teyla._ _

__They seemed to draw strength from one another and gradually clambered back to their feet. Ronon was waiting for them. John grabbed his forearm and shook it._ _

__“Home,” he said again, as if Ronon hadn’t quite got it yet._ _

__Ronon shook his head indulgently and ruffled John’s hair. John rolled his eyes and punched him in the arm. Then Teyla was there to do the forehead touch thing. John smiled and turned to look at Rodney._ _

__“What are you doing on the floor?”_ _

__“Some lunatic knocked me over,” Rodney complained as grumpily as he could manage, which wasn’t that grumpily because John was still starry-eyed, as if Rodney had given him the greatest present ever, and it was making Rodney’s chest ache in a most peculiar way._ _

__“Shocking behavior,” said John. He held out his hand and helped Rodney haul himself upright._ _

__“So, uh, where is home?”_ _

__“Pegasus,” said John breathily, “oh Rodney, you’ll love it there.”_ _

__“The Pegasus Galaxy?” It was a guess, but not much of one, there weren’t many places that would require such a power source to get there and Rodney was _so_ not doing time travel._ _

__John nodded giddily._ _

__“Right, so how are we getting there? Because I might have solved the Sheppard Equation but it’s going to take me, along with Radek and Miko, at least a year to construct a device and figure out how to charge it.”_ _

__“But to recharge one Rodney, could you recharge one?” John’s eyes were bright, as if he were already sure of the answer._ _

__“No, once entropy had increased to maximum you’d have to start over from the beginning. You must know that, why are you asking me?”_ _

__John shook his head. “You’re not getting it Rodney.”_ _

__“What? If you had an already charged device I suppose, given a sufficiently large power source, I could use the theory to figure out the frequency to jolt it and extend its useful life. Much like hitting a calculator to make the battery keep going. That would be fairly simple and by fairly simple, I mean ridiculously difficult. But you’d need a device with a charge. Wait, you _have_ a device?”_ _

__“Sheppard we need to leave,” growled Ronon._ _

__“Sheppard? _You’re_ Sheppard.”_ _

__John nodded guiltily._ _

__“You wrote the Sheppard Equation. You have a device. Of course you do, you found one, didn’t you?”_ _

__John cringed apologetically, “Sorry.”_ _

__Rodney ignored the interruption, “Which explains the new way of looking at subspace time. And the faults in the equations, you were making assumptions you shouldn’t have because you already knew it was possible. Those specific cases, you knew they were right because they were the ones that gave you the results you were looking for, that you knew worked.”_ _

__“Yeah, uh...”_ _

__Rodney stared at his sheepish boyfriend as things continued to click into place. He couldn’t believe it, John had –_ _

__“You little shit!” he exploded. “You deliberately sabotaged the equations you gave Samantha Carter. Without your corrections that day, I’d have been chasing my goddamn tail for the rest of my life.”_ _

__“How is it my fault that Carter doesn’t want to admit the ZPM exists.” John pouted sulkily. Rodney narrowed his gaze._ _

__“I note you’re not denying the sabotage.”_ _

__John shrugged one shoulder, “I wasn’t feeling all that cooperative at the time.”_ _

__“She’ll kill you once she figures it out.” Rodney was stunned by boyfriend’s audacity. Sam wasn’t just going to kill him, she was going to figure out a way to resurrect him so she could kill him all over again._ _

__“Believe me Rodney, she’ll be at the back of a very long line.”_ _

__“I can more than believe that. You little shit. We are _so_ calling it the Sheppard-McKay Equation.”_ _

__John laughed out loud._ _

__“Sheppard,” Ronon sounded impatient but Rodney thought he seemed to be laughing too, “sort your personal life out later. We need to leave.”_ _

__“Just making sure I had a personal life to sort out. You want to go get the van? Teyla get the box.” They both vanished. “Rodney, start packing.”_ _

__Then John crouched down and started clicking his fingers._ _

__“What are you doing?” demanded Rodney._ _

__“Getting the cat,” a black streak headed John’s way and he cooed. “Ah there you are beautiful. Come on, up you get.” He caught her in both hands and lifted her gently, holding her safely against his chest._ _

__“John, why are you flirting with my cat?”_ _

__“You don’t want to leave her behind, do you?”_ _

__Teyla reappeared carrying the cat box. “Perhaps you should _ask_ Rodney if he wishes to accompany you, John.”_ _

__“Oh, um,” stuttered John. Holding onto the cat prevented him from making his usual sheepish gestures and seemed to tie his tongue in knots._ _

__Rodney stared at him, taking in his beautiful, worried face, the body that made Rodney’s react just imagining it and the brain that had not only come up with the Sheppard Equation (okay so he had a massive unfair advantage over Rodney but it was still impressive) but also managed to spike the guns of any other scientist who tried to solve it. He thought about the fact that in between pissing off Samantha Carter and fleeing from the entire US military, John had made plans to take Rodney’s _cat_ with them. _ _

__“Don’t be stupid,” said Rodney, “of course I’m coming too.”_ _

__

__Fifteen minutes later they were scurrying down the backstairs of Rodney’s apartment building. It seemed vaguely surreal to Rodney to be clutching his precious research, running beside John, who was holding the cat basket stiffly, trying to disturb its occupant as little as possible. Packing had taken six minutes and killing the CCTV in the area another eleven._ _

__“It would have been quicker,” Rodney apologized breathlessly as they ran out the side door, “but I didn’t expect to have to do it quite so soon.”_ _

__“You expected to have to do it?” John blinked at him in surprise._ _

__“I thought it might become necessary at some point. You honestly think I hadn’t noticed your relationship with the forces of law and order is antagonistic at best? Just look at your hair.”_ _

__“What’s wrong with my hair?”_ _

__Rodney ignored the irrelevancy. “And I’m not sure I want an honest answer, but Teyla and Ronon are illegal aliens in the most literal sense of the words, aren’t they?”_ _

__“They’re not illegal. Some bureaucrat in the Pentagon signed something or the other that got them dispensation.”_ _

__“But they are aliens?”_ _

__“If you mean do they come from the Pegasus Galaxy, then yes, they are.”_ _

__“And you’re not?”_ _

__“No.” Then John went absolutely still for a second before smiling delightedly. “Actually yes, yes I am. I’m a naturalized resident of the Pegasus Galaxy.” He grinned wildly. “I might even be an Athosian. Hey Teyla, can I be an Athosian?”_ _

__Teyla looked surprised, “You thought you were not one?”_ _

__“There you are then. John Sheppard of the Athosians at your service,” John’s smile was fierce._ _

__Rodney sighed at his demented boyfriend. “It’s not…”_ _

__John’s pocket started to proclaim it was too sexy for its shirt. “Hold that thought, I need to get this.” One-handed he grabbed his phone, checked the caller ID and answered it._ _

__“Bates,” he snapped. He cocked his head, listening, “I know, we’re leaving now.”_ _

__“Sheppard,” Ronon jerked one hand towards the end of the alley. Police cars with frantically flashing blue light were zooming past, strangely silent without the expected sirens._ _

__“Oh shit, Sam moved fast,” said Rodney. “It’s asking too much for that to be a coincidence.”_ _

__“Bates,” John was barking into the phone. “You’re blown. Get out! Now!” He clicked the phone off and thrust into his pocket. “Damn, damn, damn.”_ _

__“Sergeant Bates is a most resourceful man,” offered Teyla._ _

__“I should never have agreed to let them help us. Damnit.”_ _

__“We need to go,” said Ronon bluntly._ _

__“We will be unable to help if we ourselves are caught,” said Teyla._ _

__“Okay, okay, move out.”_ _

__And then they were running again._ _

__Ronon reached the van first and opened the back door. The three of them piled inside while Ronon ran around to the front and took the driver’s seat. John shoved the cat basket into Rodney’s arms and slammed the doors closed._ _

__“Go, go, go,” he yelled._ _

__The van lurched forwards as Ronon applied too much gas and not enough clutch._ _

__Rodney sputtered with laughter. “Just like in the movies. ‘Cept they don’t have cats in the movies.”_ _

__The van lurched again as Ronon thrashed the gears._ _

__“And usually the getaway driver can, you know, drive.”_ _

__Ronon muttered something about not having gears on Sateda that Rodney ignored._ _

__“And the vans are usually more salubrious. Where did you get this thing, Wrecks ’R Us?” The floor of the van was still gritty from transporting cement and the rust around the windows and door frame was allowing icy cold fingers of air to jab at him._ _

__“Sorry,” said John, “but this movie has a strict budget.”_ _

__“Money. Oh hell, I hope Radek thought of that or we’re going to be penniless.”_ _

__“It’s all right Rodney, where we’re going money doesn’t matter.”_ _

__Rodney squinted at him suspiciously, “I trust this isn’t one of those movies where everybody dies, because you know, I’ve never considered them to be happy endings.”_ _

__“No, no Rodney, nobody is going to be dying. Not now.” John patted Rodney’s bag of research affectionately. Rodney felt sick because if nobody was going to be dying now it meant somebody would have been going to before._ _

__“Don’t look like that Rodney, it wasn’t that bad. It’s just, if we couldn’t recharge the ZPM, we weren’t going to have enough power for precision. We were going to have to throw everything into forward thrust and hope we fell out of hyperspace somewhere near to civilization.”_ _

__Rodney closed his eyes because that sounded more like a long-drawn out suicide than a plan._ _

__“I had to try,” said John quietly, “Teyla deserves a chance to go home.”_ _

__Rodney didn’t want to talk about it. He really hated movies where everyone died._ _

__“Why do you call it a ZPM?” he asked instead._ _

__“It stands for Zero Point Module. Emily named it.”_ _

__Rodney recognized the name from John’s more vicious nightmares. “Uh, good choice.”_ _

__“I’m sure she’ll be pleased to hear you approve.”_ _

__“She’s still alive?” he asked, surprised._ _

__“Yeah, her, Bates, Ronon and Teyla. The others, not so much.”_ _

__“Right,” Rodney swallowed miserably. It wasn’t that he counted or anything but there were at least another five names John called out in the night._ _

__“Sheppard, where am I going?” demanded Ronon, crunching the gears as they drifted through an intersection._ _

__“We’ll make for the rendezvous. Teyla’s right, Bates is a resourceful son of a bitch.”_ _

__“Hold on,” said Rodney. “We need to pick up Radek and Miko.”_ _

__“Zelenka? He hates me.”_ _

__“You’ve been spying on the lab since the day we met,” he snapped, “and you thought Radek and I were stupid enough not to notice.”_ _

__“Sheppard?” asked Ronon._ _

__“Yeah, let’s go get Radek and Miko. Is she the little Japanese woman who always looks like she wants to stab me to death with her pen?”_ _

__Rodney smirked._ _

__“Great. I survive Pegasus and the SGC and get done in by two geeks. Em will never let me live it down.”_ _

__“Don’t worry I’ll protect you from the homicidal scientists.”_ _

__“No you won’t. You’re one of _them_.”_ _

__Rodney rolled his eyes. “Poor baby.”_ _

__“Sheppard, where am I picking up these people?” asked Ronon. He sounded impatient but Rodney couldn’t help feeling he was laughing at them._ _

__“Dunno,” John slouched. “Rodney? Plan?”_ _

__“Not as such. But we have phones.” He pulled Radek’s phone out his pocket and waved it triumphantly._ _

__John’s face wrinkled with concern._ _

__“Don’t worry Miko bought them, they’re untraceable.” He hit speed dial one._ _

__“Radek?”_ _

__“Rodney. Is lying boyfriend listening?”_ _

__“No, well he’s trying to.” Rodney shifted the phone to his other ear away from John, who gave up attempting to look innocent and instead looked outraged,_ _

__“He calls me the lying boyfriend?”_ _

__Rodney swatted him. “It’s better than being stabbed to death with a pen, now go away.”_ _

__John retreated to the back of the van to sulk._ _

__“He’s no longer listening and is now pouting like a five year old.”_ _

__“Teyla likes you,” hissed John._ _

__“Radek likes you too John, or he’d have electrocuted you by now.”_ _

__“Huh,” John folded his arms and glared at Rodney in high dudgeon._ _

__“Rodney,” said Radek. “Stop flirting with hopefully no longer lying boyfriend and pay attention.”_ _

__“Sorry.”_ _

__“Has he provided excellent explanation and profuse apologies.”_ _

__“Uh, kind of,” Rodney hedged. “We’ve been mostly too busy running away from the police.”_ _

__“Don’t worry Rodney,” said Miko, proving she too was listening in, “he will once we’re through with him.”_ _

__“Miko it’s fine, absolutely fine,” Rodney stressed. Miko was shy and quiet until she wasn’t and then she was scary._ _

__“We’ll see.”_ _

__“So, plan,” said Radek. “Where are you now?”_ _

__“Being driven through town in a broken-down van by a maniac.”_ _

__“You are not selling this Rodney.”_ _

__“Radek, we have my cat with us.”_ _

__“That just proves he is as mad as you. Are you being followed at the moment?”_ _

__“How the hell should I know? Do I look like a secret agent? John, are we being followed?”_ _

__“No. But Carter, or O’Neill, probably had the sense to station people ready to tail Radek if he leaves the house.”_ _

__“Right, did you hear that Radek? We’re not being followed but John thinks there will be people watching you.”_ _

__“Yes,” said Radek, “that would explain the presence of conspicuous car two doors down.”_ _

__“John, Radek says there’s a car watching them. What are we going to do?”_ _

__“They could go to bed and forget about us.”_ _

__“John! Do you truly think Radek and Miko are going to let anybody else play with the ZPM?”_ _

__“That’s a rhetorical question, right?”_ _

__Rodney rolled his eyes._ _

__“Thought so,” he said mournfully as he moved back to sit beside him. “Radek lives near twelfth and main, doesn’t he? And twelfth is one way.” At Rodney’s nod he continued, “Tell them to take what they can carry without being obvious about it and go for an evening stroll. Head the wrong way down twelfth and we’ll meet them at the corner of main. The car will have to go the long way around and we should be gone by the time they get there.”_ _

__“Did you get that Radek?”_ _

__“Yes, lying boyfriend is not totally stupid.”_ _

__John squawked wordlessly and Rodney laughed._ _

__“See you soon Radek. You’re packed already, aren’t you.”_ _

__“Ten minutes,” Radek confirmed and the phone cut off._ _

__“Ten minutes,” Rodney repeated to John._ _

__“Okay, Ronon take a left here.” John moved further up the van to direct Ronon around the one way system. Rodney sat as patiently as he could manage and wished he bit his nails._ _

__Teyla smiled at him, “I am looking forward to meeting your friends. I am surprised they are willing to come with us on such short acquaintance.”_ _

__Rodney shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably. “I don’t really get it myself.” He understood their eagerness to work on the ZPM but that didn’t explain their willingness to pack up their lives at a moment’s notice for a plan even Rodney could see was risky bordering on insane._ _

__“None of us are from the US,” he said, “we’ve already moved once.” Though that didn’t seem to explain it either._ _

__“I cannot imagine living away from my people.”_ _

__“And yet you’re here.”_ _

__She glanced at the men sitting at the front of the van. John was trying to coach Ronon into finding the touching point on the clutch. It wasn’t going well._ _

__“John believed the soldiers from Earth and I saw no reason for him not to. Ronon would not leave John. And I was,” she paused, searching for the correct word, “concerned that John would allow them to force him to remain here, in this place that is not home.”_ _

__“He could have been happy here,” said Rodney defiantly, biting his lip before he could add ‘with me’._ _

__“And whose name does he call out most often in his sleep?”_ _

__“Hah,” said Rodney, meanly pleased he knew more about John than Teyla. “It isn’t a person he calls for most often, it’s a place.”_ _

__“Atlantis,” said Teyla reverently._ _

__“Yes, so – just a minute, are you saying Atlantis actually exists? I thought it was a codeword or something.”_ _

__“No. It is a real place. Atlantis, the lost city of Ancestors, sunk beneath the waves to save it. And with your work,” she patted Rodney’s case just as John had, “it will rise again. And with its secrets we will defeat the Wraith.”_ _

__“Right,” said Rodney, more than a little spooked by the visionary gleam in Teyla’s eyes, “I think John left rather a lot out of his recruitment speech.”_ _

__“We thought about that, but there was no choice. If, once you have heard all of John’s story, you no longer wish to accompany us you will be able to take your research and go wherever you choose. John says that the ZPM research is remarkable enough that any tribe would gladly take you in.”_ _

__“He’s not wrong there. But would you be willing to leave me with all the information on the ZPMs.”_ _

__“It would not matter to us once we were home.”_ _

__“And John would leave me, just like that.” Rodney glared, wanting hurl at her all the angry words he hadn’t yet had a chance to spew at John._ _

__Teyla smiled serenely. “That is his decision, not mine. But if he stays here with you, know that there will always be nights when he wakes calling for Atlantis.”_ _

__Rodney shuddered at the thought, because the Atlantis dreams were the worst ones. John woke shouting and swearing from the other dreams, sometimes he’d punch the pillow, once he’d gone for a midnight run. But as he flailed and cursed, he always there, pissed as hell but vital and alive._ _

__But when he woke calling for Atlantis he’d be weeping brokenly, and though he’d let Rodney touch him it was more because it didn’t matter than because it comforted him. Rodney would wrap him in his arms, stroking his hair and crooning softly but John would remain inconsolable until he mercifully fell asleep again. The worst part was how insubstantial John felt as if he wasn’t really lying there with Rodney at all but was a million miles away, where Rodney could not follow._ _

__Teyla didn’t say anything else and Rodney wanted to hit her for giving him a choice that was no choice at all. He might have done, if she’d looked in the least smug about it, but instead she had that vaguely apologetic cast to her face again. As if she had injured Rodney in some way he didn’t know about yet._ _

__Before Rodney could really work himself up into a rant the van skidded to a jolting halt._ _

__“Jesus Ronon,” swore John. “Running Zelenka over isn’t going to improve his opinion of me any.”_ _

__Teyla had hastily opened the backdoor of the van and Rodney moved back in time to help Miko scramble inside. Then Radek was there, the doors banged and Teyla was shouting,_ _

__“Go, go.”_ _

__The van shuddered, Ronon had to be going from first to fourth in one go, and leapt forwards. Radek yelped and slammed into Miko and Rodney, who tumbled backwards until they all banged into John._ _

__“Ow. Rodney, you promised your friends weren’t going to kill me,” whined John from the bottom of the heap._ _

__“Believe me,” said Radek from somewhere near Rodney’s elbow. “When I kill you it will be a lot more painful.”_ _

__Rodney heard a musical giggle that had to be Teyla but his homicidal thoughts were cut off as she pulled Radek and Miko away from him._ _

__“I am sorry,” she said, “this is not the best introduction.”_ _

__“It’s a perfect introduction,” said John, “ow, that’s my foot, Rodney, and that’s my ankle I kind of need them, to the surreal dream masquerading as my life.”_ _

__“Oh be quiet,” said Rodney as he managed to get to his knees without crushing any vital part of John. “Give me your hand.” He tugged John up into a sitting position and then collapsed back against the side of the van._ _

__“Where now?” said Ronon._ _

__“Rendezvous,” said John and turned to smile winningly at Radek and Miko. “Hi.”_ _

__Miko sniffed, “I’m really not impressed with the standard of transportation. I thought an international man of mystery would drive a better car.”_ _

__“Rodney, what have you being saying about me?”_ _

__“Nothing that complimentary I assure you, so don’t sound so scandalized.”_ _

__“Not an international man of mystery,” said Radek, “Dare I hope you are on the side of the ‘good guys’.” He didn’t sound much like he’d believe it if John said he was._ _

__“Not so much,” drawled John._ _

__“Spy? Assassin? Megalomaniac bent on world destruction?”_ _

__“Jesus Rodney, you’ve been giving your friends one hell of an impression of me. And when I think all I said to Teyla and Ronon was that you were a bit of a workaholic. I should have made up something much more exciting.” He turned back to Radek, “But in answer to your question, no, nothing like that I’m afraid. I am a boringly AWOL USAF Major. And I won’t even be that once they catch up with me long enough to hold a court-martial.”_ _

__“There is nothing remotely boring about you,” protested Rodney. “Terrifying, yes. Boring, no.” Then he remembered Radek didn’t know the really good part. “Hey Radek, guess what, James’ real name is John Sheppard, as in the Sheppard Equation.”_ _

__“I knew it,” said Miko. “Pay up.” She held out one hand to Radek and he reached into his pocket for a quarter._ _

__Radek glared at John. “I am even less happy with you now Major.”_ _

__“Sorry.”_ _

__“It is not precisely your fault. I thought military would have better sense than to let Sheppard wander around the country accosting innocent physicists.”_ _

__“They didn’t exactly let me.”_ _

__“Pah, you live with Rodney for three weeks. They should have caught you like that,” Radek snapped his fingers._ _

__John coughed a little. “Someone might have misinformed them of my intention to go to Russia. The Russians have a way we could return home and the SGC believed I’d be stupid enough to try and negotiate with them.”_ _

__“And why would they believe that?”_ _

__John looked shifty. “Might be because that’s what I told the Russians.” He grinned impishly, “I could have had a lot of fun because they fell for it like a ton of bricks. But once you’ve been screwed over by your own country, you damn sure aren’t going to give some other son of a bitch the chance.”_ _

__“Oh my God,” said Rodney, utterly appalled, “so not only are the US military after you, the Russians are too.”_ _

__John rubbed the back of his hand across his mouth._ _

__“What aren’t you telling me?” shrieked Rodney._ _

__“The, uh, Chinese probably aren’t too keen on me at the moment either.”_ _

__Rodney covered his face with hands. “I don’t want to know,” he moaned. “We’re all going to be shot as traitors.”_ _

__“That’s not on the books anymore,” said John comfortingly._ _

__“They’ll bring it back just for you, I would. It’s a good job you’re planning to leave the planet because there’ll be nowhere on Earth for you to hide.”_ _

__“Um,” said John._ _

__“Do I want to know?”_ _

__“Probably not.”_ _

__“Tell me anyway. Might as well get it over with. If I’m lucky I might die of shock.”_ _

__“Well the SGC has been exploring the Milky Way for some time and they found this really persistent enemy called the Gou’ald.”_ _

__“Who you have also pissed off, correct?”_ _

__“They’re not pissed off at me yet,” John temporized, “But when I disappear with all the ZPM research, yeah they’ll be pretty annoyed.”_ _

__“Oh my God, you’ve made an entire galaxy too hot to hold you. And how has my life reached the point where that even makes sense?”_ _

__“What can I say, I’m an overachiever.”_ _

__“And this has distracted the SGC?” said Miko, carefully sounding out the letters._ _

__“Yeah. As much as they want the ZPM, they want the rest of them not to have it even more. Which I’m really sorry about because I’m fairly sure their plan A is to kill everybody in this van and call it a day.”_ _

__“Sam wouldn’t do that,” said Rodney._ _

__“Carter is not the SGC,” said John._ _

__“I am sure Colonel Mitchell would not hesitate,” sneered Teyla._ _

__“Agreed,” muttered Ronon. John wasn’t looking at anybody._ _

__Rodney blinked a little. He had never heard Teyla sound venomous before and he wondered what she had against Cameron Mitchell. He had only met him in passing but he seemed no more objectionable than the average military blockhead._ _

__“And this SGC, they would not forgive you if you gave them ZPM solution?” asked Miko._ _

__John slouched back against the door. “Maybe.”_ _

__Rodney sat up a little in excitement because the SGC _would_. Sam would support them, he was sure, and her friends were pretty high up, they didn’t like Rodney much but they were decent guys. If they turned themselves in, they could bargain Rodney’s completed research if not into forgiveness then something very close to it._ _

__He turned to John to ask his opinion and the words faded to ashes on his tongue._ _

__John had slumped further back. From a distance he would look relaxed but Rodney was close enough to see the tremble in his arms and legs from the effort he was using to keep the pose. His face was sharp and white and for an instant Rodney thought he could see the skull beneath the stretched too thin skin._ _

__John didn’t say anything, just bowed his head, lashes fluttering down to veil his eyes as he waited for Rodney’s verdict._ _

__Rodney swallowed hard to dislodge the lump in his throat. He was an utter, utter moron. John already knew all of that. Hell, if John had cooperated with Sam in the first place they could probably have solved the Sheppard Equation without involving Rodney at all. John had turned his back on the SGC for the barest chance of returning to the Pegasus Galaxy, of returning home._ _

__He didn’t want to know if John would go crawling back to the SGC if he asked him to. Rodney hoped, if he’d ever been bastard enough to ask, that John would have told him to go to hell. He wasn’t worth, nobody was worth, giving up that much of yourself for._ _

__He shifted to address Miko directly._ _

__“Probably, but that’s pretty much irrelevant. If John couldn’t get them to let him go back to Pegasus before, there’s no way he could manage it now.”_ _

__From the corner of the eye he watched the tension bleed out of brittle thing across from him until he could start to see John again._ _

__“You don’t have to come though,” he continued, still talking to Miko, “this is a bit more than you signed up for. We could leave you all my work and you could go to the SGC. You haven’t even done anything that needs forgiveness, not really. You haven’t chatted up the Russians, Chinese and Gould people.”_ _

__“They’re not people,” said John helpfully, he seemed to be almost all the way back with them, “They’re evil bug things that take over people.”_ _

__“Thank you for that information I did not need at all. As I was saying, the choice is yours. You could go back to Japan Miko, I’m sure they’d get over their thing against women physicists fast enough once they saw the Sheppard Equation.”_ _

__“Hmm,” said Miko. She and Radek shifted so they could face each other directly and began to talk softly._ _

__Rodney, now able to meet John’s eyes without being afraid of what he might see, moved across to sit beside his boyfriend._ _

__“Shove up,” he said roughly. “Couldn’t you have got something with seats? My back will never be the same again.”_ _

__John pressed close. “I’m sorry,” he whispered desperately, “I’m so sorry.”_ _

__Rodney shuddered at the cool breath against his ear._ _

__“Don’t be utterly ridiculous,” he snapped. “You said it yourself, Teyla deserves a chance to go home. _You_ deserve a chance to go home.”_ _

__“Home.” John wriggled further in Rodney’s arms. “You don’t understand yet, you can’t because you haven’t seen her. But, oh Rodney, Atlantis is the most beautiful thing you could imagine. All tall spires and long corridors, bronze, silver and blue. We never had a chance to raise her but I used to imagine her in the sunlight, glistening gold. And she sings, Rodney, she sings.”_ _

__Rodney clutched John tighter. Just as when John wept in the darkness, he could feel John slipping away further than he could follow._ _

__“You’ll love her too. I know you will. Oh God Rodney, you gave me back Atlantis.” And John was kissing him, wet and messy, as if words were no longer good enough._ _

__When Rodney drew back panting, John sighed softly and pressed more kisses lightly along his jaw line._ _

__“To be honest, I’m not sure I’d have survived giving up on Atlantis,” John sounded reflective more than anything else, as if his survival would have been a matter of indifference to him._ _

__Rodney thought of wild birds that battered themselves to death trying to escape or pined away in their cages until their frail bodies gave out, and shivered._ _

__“You’re shaking. Are you cold?” demanded John. “Geez you’re hands are like ice. Why didn’t you say something. Teyla, where are the blankets?”_ _

__Rodney tried to protest that he was fine but John wasn’t satisfied until he’d wrapped Rodney in two fleece blankets._ _

__“That’s better,” he said with satisfaction as Rodney wondered if he’d ever get his arms free. “You should have said something.”_ _

__“If your van wasn’t mostly rust it wouldn’t be a problem,” Rodney sniped._ _

__“Hey, don’t insult Daisy. If she gets temperamental we’ll have a long walk.”_ _

__“I should have known you were the sort of idiot who gives their cars names. It’s just a heap of metal, and a badly rusted one at that.”_ _

__“Shush, you’ll hurt her feelings.”_ _

__“It’s a vehicle John, it doesn’t have feelings.”_ _

__Ronon, completely unnecessarily in Rodney’s opinion, made the gears grind horribly in protest. John and Teyla both laughed._ _

__“Oh Rodney, just wait ‘til you get to Atlantis,” promised John._ _

__Rodney huffed at the teasing light in his eyes and tried to cross his arms but got caught up in the blankets instead._ _

__“I don’t know why I ever agreed to go to Pegasus with you,” he grumbled._ _

__“’Cause I’m irresistible,” crowed John._ _

__“Well yes there is that. Now get me out of this overly-aggressive bed linen.”_ _

__“Aww Rodney, I kinda like you like that. Completely at my mercy.” John swooped in and stole a kiss. Rodney scrabbled one arm free and pushed him away._ _

__“Not in front of the children.”_ _

__John stared at him with imploring eyes._ _

__“Faker,” accused Rodney. All the same he shifted so his back rested against John’s chest, it was more comfortable than the side of the van._ _

__“Rodney,” said Radek, “I have nasty suspicion you are referring to one of the Pegasus galaxies. If so I am in need of considerably more detailed explanation.”_ _

__“And I would like to know about the SGC who explore this galaxy,” said Miko._ _

__“And I’m kind of interested in hearing about these Wraith we’re going to defeat,” added Rodney, tilting his head so he could see John’s face._ _

__“Teyla,” John complained._ _

__“They need to know,” she said._ _

__“I was hoping to sort of lead up to it.”_ _

__“How can you lead up to the Wraith?”_ _

__“Got me there.” John rubbed his hands against his jeans. “Right then, brief history lesson.”_ _

__Rodney listened in amazement to the story of the Ancients who built Stargates, flew a city to the stars and fought a war against a race of pseudo-vampires._ _

__“Wait,” he demanded, “These Ancient guys couldn’t defeat the Wraith but you think we can? And people say my ego is bad.”_ _

__“The Ancients were a bunch of quitters,” said John sourly. He raised one hand, “Not the Ancestors, Teyla, I have a lot of respect for them, they built a galaxy and protected its people. But the Ancients cut and run. You don’t leave people behind, and they abandoned an entire galaxy.”_ _

__“Peace John,” said Teyla, “I have no admiration for those who left us to be culled by the Wraith.”_ _

__John crawled across the floor of the van towards her and they did the forehead touch thing._ _

__“Back to defeating the invincible bad guy,” said Rodney._ _

__“They’re not invincible,” John smiled nastily, “they die like anything else if you hit ‘em hard enough. And that’s what we’ll do. Hell even the Genii had a plan to defeat them, and it wasn’t that bad either, barring their utter inability at nuclear physics. _We_ are going to _exterminate_ the mother-fuckers.” John’s face was saturnine and suddenly Rodney didn’t find the idea he was a Major in the US military quite so surprising anymore._ _

__“And the SGC will not help in this worthy goal?” asked Miko._ _

__“The SGC do not fucking care.” John slammed his clenched fists into the floor of the van. “Pegasus is too far away for them to bother about. Apparently ‘we don’t need to open a war on another front at this juncture’,” John sneered as he parroted the words. “They don’t understand. It’s already war and we’re losing. Atlantis is the key, I know she is. If the SGC had any guts they’d be there already. We’d be slaves of the Gou’ald right now if they hadn’t managed to scavenge enough left-over bits of ancient technology to force a stand-off, and Atlantis is so much more.”_ _

__“And how do you intend to reach Atlantis, Major?” asked Radek. “ZPM may be powerful but it will not allow van to fly to Pegasus galaxy.”_ _

__“And we won’t all fit in a DeLorean,” added Rodney._ _

__John grinned, “Oh now that would be cool. But no, you’re going to have to settle for a spaceship.”_ _

__“And you have spaceship lying around, like odd sock,” said Radek._ _

__“Yup.” John brought his knees up to his chest and hugged them, grinning like a five year old with the bestest secret ever._ _

__“You stole a spaceship,” said Rodney with blank disbelief._ _

__“No,” John’s head whipped around to glare at him, “PJ is mine, from Atlantis.”_ _

__“Somehow I don’t think the SGC sees it that way.”_ _

__“I didn’t steal her,” John repeated stubbornly. Then he grinned, “I did however steal a hyperdrive.”_ _

__“Please stop talking,” begged Rodney._ _

__“Actually, thinking about it, I suppose I technically stole it from the Asgard. I guess that’s another galaxy I can cross off my list.”_ _

__“I said stop talking. I’ve just discovered travel beyond the solar system is possible but I can’t actually go anywhere because my stupid boyfriend’s pissed all the aliens off.”_ _

__“My one great talent.” John buffed his fingernails against his jacket and looked far too pleased with himself. Rodney punched him in arm. In return John patted his shoulder solicitously._ _

__“It’s okay Rodney, Ronon was the one who actually walked off with it, I’m just an accessory.”_ _

__“That’s such a comfort.”_ _

__“I am not sure I want to know,” said Radek, “but how exactly does one steal a hyperdrive?”_ _

__“I definitely don’t want to know,” muttered Rodney. John ignored him._ _

__“Well first you distract the alien who looks after the hyperdrive by offering to show him human mating rituals.”_ _

__Radek clapped his hands over his eyes. “It all comes down to kinky sex.”_ _

__“I’m not sure I’d call rock ’n roll kinky but maybe you know a more interesting version.”_ _

__“You didn’t?” Rodney asked, awed._ _

__“Absolutely. Teyla and I took Hermiod down to the gym to demonstrate our jitterbug. Em had one of her spells and Bates took her to the infirmary. So we all had alibis when Ronon strolled away with the component parts of the hyperdrive. I was chief suspect.” John preened ridiculously. Rodney punched him again,_ _

__“I’m not surprised. What did you tell them when they asked you what you were doing?”_ _

__“Told them I was in the gym with Teyla demonstrating human mating rituals for Hermiod.”_ _

__Rodney closed his eyes. “Why hasn’t somebody killed you get?” he demanded faintly._ _

__“Oh believe me, they’ve tried. Anyway Mitchell,” he snapped out the name, “thought I genuinely was that kinky. O’Neill wrote it off as me pulling Hermiod’s leg. Actually I think he had me down for the hyperdrive theft but just couldn’t prove it, since Hermiod himself was watching me at the time. Half the medical staff could vouch for Emily and Bates. And the SGC think Ronon can’t tell positive from negative. They don’t get that Ronon finds Earth electronics weird because the current runs the wrong way on our circuit diagrams.”_ _

__“It is weird,” said Ronon. “The zarps,”_ _

__“Electrons,” supplied John._ _

__“Whatever,” said Ronon and Rodney just knew he picked up the expression from John because the intonation was exactly John at his most dismissive. “They travel one way and yet you have this thing called current that runs in the opposite direction,” he shook his head, “weird.”_ _

__Rodney was momentarily stumped that the gigantic barbarian had an opinion on circuit diagrams but only momentarily because he was thrilled to finally meet someone who agreed with him._ _

__“See,” shouted, waving his hands excitedly at Radek, “he thinks I’m right too. Circuit diagrams are _stupid_. We should leave the nineteenth century physics in the nineteenth century, accept their fifty-fifty chance came up with wrong answer and start doing it the right way.”_ _

__“Rodney,” said Radek with the massive patience that drove Rodney straight up the wall, “It has been that way for many, many years. It would be too hard to change it now.”_ _

__“Only for the current stick in the mud generation. Students are still malleable enough to be taught correctly.”_ _

__“There would be too much confusion.”_ _

__“Only for the feeble intellects unable to deal with change. You’re such a neo-classicist Radek. You won’t even agree with me that base-12 would be a far more convenient counting system than base-10.”_ _

__“I agree it would be more convenient, but mere fact you must call it base-12 tells you why it cannot be done.”_ _

__“My world used a base-12 counting system,” said Ronon._ _

__“Wow,” said Rodney, “what a great place. Can we go there? Or has John pissed them all off too.”_ _

__Ronon’s face went stony. “Sateda is gone. It was destroyed by the Wraith.”_ _

__Rodney clamped his jaw shut because he knew he was too stunned to come out with anything remotely tactful. He’d known the Wraith were bad, John’s description of their feeding process (which he’d obviously witnessed by close and personal at least once, and yes, that might explain a few of his nightmares) was enough to convince him of that. But the idea that they could destroy a whole world, a technologically advanced world at that, was a lot to try and grasp._ _

__“That does not mean you cannot tell Rodney about it,” said Teyla._ _

__Ronon’s face grew even bleaker._ _

__“I sure he would be interested to hear about your people’s scientific advances.”_ _

__“Oh yes,” Rodney agreed, “it would be fascinating to compare the differences. I expect Satedean research was pretty much concentrated on the Wraith. We could probably learn a lot. If they had the sense to use base-12 they must have had some brains at least.”_ _

__“Rod-ney,” John gritted out through clenched teeth. Rodney rewound what he’d just said._ _

__“Uh wait, I mean I’m sure they had lots of brains. Oodles of brains. And I really would like to hear about them.”_ _

__“Huh,” said Ronon. Rodney wasn’t completely sure what that meant but he thought Ronon looked a little bit happier. He glanced at John saw he was sharing a smile with Teyla, then John was smiling at him._ _

__“Thanks,” he whispered._ _

__“It was a complete and total fluke,” Rodney hissed frantically back. “I’m bad at this; very, very bad. I’m terrible with people, everybody says so.”_ _

__“Everybody is an idiot. You, Rodney McKay, are brilliant.”_ _

__“That’s terribly flattering but not at all true. Please don’t hate me when it turns out you’re hideously, hideously wrong.”_ _

__“Rodney you’re talking to the man who has pissed off entire galaxies.”_ _

__“Yes but you do it on purpose.”_ _

__“Sssh, that’s a secret.”_ _

__“Yeah right,” scoffed Rodney._ _

__“So,” Radek cleared his throat, “you wish us to join you fighting nearly-insurmountable enemy in galaxy from which we will never be able to return.”_ _

__“It sounds kinda bad when you put it that way,” drawled John, scratching his head and affecting to look puzzled._ _

__“Major,” scolded Teyla, she turned to Radek. “Once we have recovered Atlantis and you have recharged the ZPMs you will be able to use the Stargate to reach your planet.”_ _

__“And SGC will allow us use of the gate?”_ _

__“John says we will have much to trade with your planet and that they will welcome us.”_ _

__“Now Teyla,” said John, “I never said welcome. They’ll hate our guts. But once Atlantis has shared some of her secrets with us, the SGC will be gagging for ‘em.”_ _

__Radek nodded thoughtfully._ _

__“Sheppard as interesting as all this is,” said Ronon, “are we forming a plan for retrieving Bates, or do you just want to make it up as you go along?”_ _

__“Make it up as we go along,” said John as if it were obvious._ _

__Rodney _and_ Teyla hit him._ _

__“Ow, hey, no fair,” he whined, raising his arms protectively._ _

__“It is perfectly fair,” said Teyla, “And you should consider if you truly wish to display the more,” she paused before coming up with, “irksome side of your character while Dr McKay still has a chance to, I believe the term is, run screaming?” she made her eyes wide and innocent._ _

__“Oh now you’re asking for it,” John threatened playfully, launching himself across the van at her. Everything devolved into confusion as Teyla and John rolled around the van in a full-body version of arm-wrestling._ _

__Rodney sighed, pulled his legs up close to his chest out of the way and settled down to watch his boyfriend get his ass kicked by a woman half his size. He wouldn’t mind but he was fairly sure if he ever did run screaming Teyla would have him chased down and hogtied before John even had a chance to notice he was gone._ _

__“Are you positive you wish to go with crazy people,” shouted Radek from the other side of the melee._ _

__“Yes,” Rodney called back, “yes I am.” Because he was._ _

__Radek muttered something derogatory in Czech._ _

__Teyla finally pinned John on his back to floor of the van. John let his body go limp and for a long moment they flopped together. Too long for a wrestling hold but John peeled himself away before anyone could accuse him of the hug it so obviously was._ _

__“It will be all right John,” said Teyla, brushing his hair back into semi-respectability before flicking at her own. “Our plans will not fail. The SGC want you far more than they want Sergeant Bates. And now we have Dr McKay with us.”_ _

__“Yeah, we do, don’t we.” He grinned at Rodney, eyes so full of mischief Rodney couldn’t help grinning back._ _

__“What are we doing about Bates?” asked a long-suffering Ronon from the front of the van._ _

__“Stop at the next all-night café,” said John, pulling himself together for long enough to come up with something sensible, “we could all do with something to eat and they should have a phone. It’s going to be a lot easier to retrieve Bates and Em once we know what we are retrieving them from.”_ _

__

__They huddled into the small café. Rodney slurped gratefully at his coffee while Ronon ordered half the menu and John fed dimes into the cranky, old-fashioned telephone that stood in the entrance way._ _

__Rodney watched John’s back, trying to figure out if the news was good from the way his shoulders tensed and twisted. He noticed Teyla doing the same thing and they shared anxious smiles._ _

__“Knock it off,” said Ronon. “It’s going to be fine. Sheppard will figure it out.”_ _

__“We are so close,” said Teyla, managing to keep her face serene while her fingers twisted anxiously._ _

__“It will be fine,” said Ronon definitively before turning back to the waitress to finish describing exactly how he wanted his eggs._ _

__John finally hung up the phone and strode over to join them._ _

__“Well?” demanded Rodney._ _

__“Said he got away as slickly as a Manarian from a Genii.” John accepted the mug of coffee Ronon handed him and gulped a mouthful._ _

__“Right,” said Ronon, “how are we going to deal with that?”_ _

__“Deal with what?” demanded Rodney. “What does that even mean?”_ _

__“Fun,” said Ronon flashing his teeth in wide a grin just as Teyla said, “Trouble.”_ _

__“Same thing,” said John. “Now here’s what we’re going to do.”_ _

__

__“No,” said Rodney once he had heard the plan. He kept saying no until it was five hours later, stupid o’clock in the morning and he was abandoned in a deserted, unlit parking lot at the wrong end of town._ _

__He tugged futilely at his jacket collar and blew on his cold fingers. It was dark and damply cold. He was alone except for another rust heap of a van and tattered trailer, John had flatly refused to use Daisy for this part of the plan. Rodney didn’t see why he didn’t merit the same consideration as an inanimate heap of junk_ _

__John had told him he deserved it for referring to Daisy in such a degrading fashion._ _

__Rodney had been somewhat surprised to discover that since he had stopped lying, John had not become any less of an exasperating boyfriend. If anything not lying simply gave him a wider range of things to be exasperating about._ _

__Checking his watch, his agitation ramped up a notch as he saw that time had clicked around to the point of no return._ _

__His nervous sweat chill against his skin, he clutched at his mobile. He had a quick mental run through of exactly what John wanted him to say, then punched in the numbers._ _

__“Bates,” snapped a hard, masculine voice._ _

__“Uh, hi, uh Sergeant. I’m Dr McKay. I have a message from a mutual friend. He said if I reminded Emily of their one great advantage over the Genii you’d know who he was.”_ _

__“Yeah I get you.”_ _

__“So here’s where you need to join me.” He gave Bates the directions to his location._ _

__“Right.”_ _

__“How long will you be?”_ _

__“Twenty minutes. Give or take.”_ _

__“Let’s make it take shall we, some of us are freezing here.”_ _

__Bates had the gall to laugh._ _

__

__Twenty-two minutes (Rodney was keeping a close eye on his watch) and numberless curses against John Sheppard’s thick-headedness, conniving ways and stupid hair later, a car took a sharp right into the lot._ _

__Rodney stepped away from the van, raising one hand. The car pulled up beside him with a screech of tires. A man jumped out and hurried around to open the door for the woman in the passenger seat._ _

__Rodney squinted at them in the half-light provided by the car’s headlights. John had provided pictures of Marcus Bates and Emily Simpson in case the SGC proved to be cleverer than they had planned on._ _

__The man definitely resembled his picture. The shortness of his hair didn’t quite disguise its tendency to curl and the face was the same but harder, with a pugnacious jut to his chin._ _

__The woman though, not so much. She had a long plait of hair instead of a brutally short bob and she was prettier, not quite so pinched and scrawny as the picture. The way she tilted her head inquisitively stirred a vague remembrance with Rodney._ _

__“I know you,” he said._ _

__“Yes,” she said, “I’m Dr Simpson.”_ _

__“No you’re not, you’re Dr Timpson, that’s what had me confused.”_ _

__“Well you’re Dr McKay all right,” she laughed. “Nobody else in physics can afford to be as cavalier about names as you.”_ _

__“But you destroyed Kavanaugh’s theory on matter-transference.”_ _

__She nodded. “Simpson,” she reiterated._ _

__“And vanished into the military. Radek tried to track you down when we expanded the lab. Nobody’d heard anything from you for years. Oh my God, you were in the Pegasus galaxy.”_ _

__“That’s me.” She tugged nervously at her plait._ _

__“So you’re Dr McKay,” said the man, rolling heavily into the conversation. “I’m Sergeant Bates.”_ _

__“Pleased to meet you.”_ _

__“So how are we doing this?” he demanded. “Where’s the Major?”_ _

__“Coming.” Rodney waved one hand towards the sky. “Get ready to move because he’s not stopping.”_ _

__Faintly from the East came the whir of an approaching helicopter._ _

__Bates started to take a step out through the small gap between the vehicles and Rodney grabbed his arm to stop him._ _

__“Wait Sergeant,” he said urgently. Bates shot him an unfriendly look but didn’t move._ _

__The helicopter was closer now. Rodney could see it’s flashing blades. He lent through the van window and grabbed the radio from the seat, clicked transmit and said,_ _

__“Hey Flyboy, we’re ready for you. Come pick us up.” He turned to his companions, “Get ready to move,” he ordered loudly, “he’s not going to put her on the floor. We’re going to have scramble on board as quickly as possible. We’re on a schedule here.”_ _

__Bates glared at him, “What the hell do you think you’re playing at?”_ _

__“John said if I told you to trust him at this point it would be totally counterproductive,” said Rodney quietly. To his surprise the words worked like a charm. Bates ducked his head and studied the ground for a moment, then actually started smiling._ _

__The helicopter swung fully into view, loosing height all the time. Rodney watched it and waited anxiously._ _

__“Oh this is ridiculous,” snapped Bates and scrambled up onto the hood of his car._ _

__“What are you doing?” demanded Rodney shrilly, because that wasn’t part of the plan._ _

__He grinned. “Improvising.”_ _

__“Oh God, you and John aren’t related are you?”_ _

__“No, Sheppard’s contagious.”_ _

__Rodney snickered, because it was so true. Why else would he be standing around in the middle of nowhere, half-frozen and waiting to be shot at._ _

__Bates clambered up the windshield onto the roof. He waved his arms in a complicated semaphore at the helicopter. Then he lent down and offered his hand to Simpson. She started to climb up._ _

__Engines growled, tires squealed, and sirens shrilled blue as lurid white police cars roared up to surround them. Bates instantly leapt down to join Rodney and Simpson in the relatively protected triangle of space between the car, van and trailer._ _

__Police crouched behind the encircling cars, guns at the ready._ _

__“Oh fuck,” mumbled Rodney. “I hate this plan, I hate this plan. Who told John he could plan anything anyway?”_ _

__“Dr McKay,” called a voice over a loud-hailer, “Sergeant Bates, Dr Simpson. Step away from the vehicles with your hands in the air.”_ _

__“Is that General O’Neill?” said John’s voice over the radio, “I’m honored, sir.”_ _

__The helicopter stopped moving downwards and took up a hovering position._ _

__“Sheppard?” said the voice, coming over the radio now, “Major Sheppard, stand down.”_ _

__“Now why would I want to do that, sir.”_ _

__“You have to stop this before someone gets hurt.”_ _

__“And I should care because..?”_ _

__A new voice broke in, “Stop this. This isn’t you Sheppard. You’re not that far gone. Stand down, come back to the SGC and we’ll sort something out for you.”_ _

__“Oh fuck you Mitchell.”_ _

__“Sheppard _listen_ to me. You had a raw deal. I get that. But you haven’t crossed the line yet Sheppard. You don’t want to cross that line. Come back, let me help you.”_ _

__“You know, generally speaking Colonel, sweet-talking works best _before_ you fuck someone over.”_ _

__“Sheppard, we brought you back home. Was that so wrong?”_ _

__John’s wild laughter was tinged with hysteria. Rodney wondered for the future of the SGC if Colonel Mitchell was so blind he could completely miss that if John couldn’t get back to Pegasus he’d rather die._ _

__Bates grabbed the radio. “You lied, you bastards. You lied.”_ _

__“Sergeant Bates,” said Mitchell, “I thought your voice was raised in favor for returning to Earth?”_ _

__“It was,” admitted Bates. “Sorry sir.”_ _

__“That’s okay Sergeant,” said John easily._ _

__“It was my fault,” said Simpson._ _

__“No,” said John over the radio at the same time Bates said it in person._ _

__“Was that Dr Simpson?” asked Mitchell. “Dr Simpson I can hardly believe _you_ wish to return to the Pegasus Galaxy.”_ _

__Simpson curled around Bates to get close to the radio. “Then I guess you don’t know me very well, sir.”_ _

__Rodney laughed out loud._ _

__Simpson turned on him, glaring fiercely._ _

__Rodney raised his hands in surrender, “Sorry, it’s just John, being contagious. You sounded exactly like him right then.”_ _

__“It’s true honey.” Bates grinned. “You’re the only person I know who starts drawling when they get pissed.”_ _

__“Emily,” a woman’s voice came over the radio, “Emily this Kate Heightmayer. You don’t have to do this.”_ _

__“I am a Ghost of Atlantis and I will return to her.”_ _

__Rodney winced at how crazy she sounded. It was a stark contrast to her composed face and determined eyes._ _

__“Emily we talked about this.”_ _

__“No,” John interrupted, “you bored Em half to death and now you’re boring me. Shut up and stand aside. I’m coming in to pick my people up.”_ _

__“Sheppard.” O’Neill was back on the radio. “You know I can’t let you do this.”_ _

__“Oh yes you can and you will, sir.”_ _

__“My orders state that if you are an unrecoverable asset then I am to proceed directly to termination.”_ _

__“Bullshit. You aint gonna shoot me, sir. You want all the knowledge of ZPMs rattling around in my brain too badly.”_ _

__“Sheppard you’re a half-crazy chopper jockey. Nobody wants you that badly.”_ _

__With an incensed growl, Rodney yanked the radio out of Bates’ hands. “That is not true. Don’t listen to him John. And you, General person, don’t you dare imply my boyfriend is unwanted.”_ _

__“Hey Rodney.”_ _

__“Hey John.” Rodney beamed, feeling absurdly warmed by the affectionate tone in his boyfriend’s voice. “If you’ve enjoyed yourself enough winding up the grunts, can you get down here and pick me up. I’m freezing.”_ _

__“I’ll be right there, baby.” The helicopter restarted its descent._ _

__“Sheppard, don’t make us do this,” demanded O’Neil._ _

__“John, _please_ ,” begged Mitchell._ _

__John laughed. He was still laughing as a missile scorched its way up through the night sky. The helicopter bucked and shuddered, slip-streaming sideways, but it couldn’t escape._ _

__John was still laughing as the missile struck home and the helicopter broke apart into shards of flaming shrapnel._ _

__Forty-five seconds later the trailer exploded._ _

__

__The initial blast of concussive air made him clap his hands over his ears and Rodney stopped running altogether when he felt the echoes of the explosion ripple through the service tunnel._ _

__“Keep going,” ordered Bates. He shoved past Rodney, grabbing his wrist and yanking until Rodney had to start running again or be pulled over._ _

__“Wait, do you even know where you’re going?”_ _

__“McKay, Emily’s following the trail of military issue glowsticks. Was there some other route you wanted us to take?”_ _

__“Well no but,”_ _

__“Shut up and save your breath for running.”_ _

__“Yes, yes,” puffed Rodney. “Do you think it even worked? What if someone was watching us?”_ _

__“Nope,” said Bates, “I had a quick look before I followed you down. Not one of them was keeping an eye on us. They were all too busy watching the Major go down in flames. Very sloppy.”_ _

__Rodney winced at the mention of flames._ _

__“They shot John down,” he said plaintively. It didn’t matter than John hadn’t actually been in the helicopter, the idea was enough to give him the shivers._ _

__“Seems to me the Major was counting on that.”_ _

__“Yes but,” Rodney waved his free hand frantically through the air, unable to express how much he hated the whole concept, mostly because he didn’t understand why himself._ _

__“Is it much further?” asked Simpson, still loping easily in front._ _

__“A bit,” said Rodney. “We wanted to make sure we’d come up outside of their security cordon.”_ _

__It was another five minutes until they reached the end of the glowstick trail. Simpson stopped at the foot of the ladder to the surface and waited for Bates and Rodney to catch up. Rodney bent over and panted for breath. Bates, not even breathing heavily after their mad dash, quickly climbed the ladder and applied his shoulder to the manhole cover at the top._ _

__The cover shifted an inch, then flipped over easily and Ronon’s face appeared._ _

__“Sergeant,” he said._ _

__“Specialist,” said Bates, levering himself out and onto the sidewalk. “Good to see you. Everything going to plan? We clear?”_ _

__“Seem to be.”_ _

__Bates paced about the street above and then crouched down by the hole._ _

__“Okay honey, you can come up now.”_ _

__Simpson quickly climbed the ladder and Bates took her hand to help her scramble out. Rodney followed her. Ronon helped him out by grabbing the scruff of his shirt and hauling him up._ _

__“Hey let me go you over-sized lout.”_ _

__Ronon just beamed at him._ _

__“Hurry,” called Teyla. She was standing further up the alley by Daisy, a gun in each hand. “We cannot afford to be caught now.”_ _

__“It’s good to see you too, Princess,” said Bates._ _

__“I am indeed pleased to see you Marcus, but I would prefer to celebrate our reunion well away from this place.”_ _

__Simpson rolled her eyes. “Just get in the van you two, we don’t want to worry the Major because we’re late.”_ _

__

__The building they picked John up at the foot of had been chosen because it was a good three stories taller than anything surrounding it, giving him a clear line of sight to direct the helicopter._ _

__John dropped gracefully down from the fire escape as the van pulled up. He squinted in against the glare of the headlights and scrubbed tiredly at his face with one hand. To Rodney’s anxious eyes he looked thoroughly worn out._ _

__Teyla had hurried to open the back doors and now Simpson was scrambling down and running towards John._ _

__“Major,” she called excitedly, “Major.”_ _

__John looked up and smiled his brightest smile. “Em,” he said, glad and happy. “You’re looking better.”_ _

__She ran right up to him and he caught her in his arms, swinging her around and rubbing his cheek against hers._ _

__Rodney was suddenly, sickeningly, sure they’d slept together. He glanced at Teyla and saw her gaze, flat and unfriendly, was fixed on Simpson._ _

__Bates swung down from the van strode over to the embracing couple. Teyla shoved at Rodney until he reluctantly left the safety of the van._ _

__Simpson pulled abruptly out of John’s arms. She stepped back, sliding her arm around Bates’ waist and cozying into his side._ _

__“Marc’s asked me to marry him Major. We’re waiting until we can have an Athosiasn ceremony.”_ _

__Rodney winced at the clear rejection of John, because ouch. He moved to his side without even thinking about it._ _

__“That’s great,” said John. He had his Stepford face on, so Rodney didn’t know what he was feeling, angry, hurt or sad, only that he didn’t want Simpson and Bates to know he was feeling it._ _

__“Teyla will be thrilled to hear it. Hey you met Rodney, right?”_ _

__He looped his arm around Rodney’s shoulders and propped himself up against him. Rodney suddenly wondered if John’s predominate emotion wasn’t exhaustion because he was taking a lot more of John’s weight than the casual pose made it seem. He shifted his hand, sliding it under John’s t-shirt to press reassuringly against his hip, while his thumb stroked with repetitive gentleness. He was fairly sure no one else caught the flutter of John’s long-lashed eyes or his soft exhale of breath._ _

__“Rodney, this is Dr Emily Simpson, my fellow ghost of Atlantis and her fiancé Sergeant Marcus Bates, United States Marine Corp. Together we’re the only survivors of the Pegasus Expedition. Well, the only members to make it back to Earth. Emily, Bates, this is Dr Rodney McKay.”_ _

__There was such pride in John’s voice that Rodney couldn’t help straightening his shoulders and puffing out his chest._ _

__“Rodney was the one who Macgyvered the remote-control for the helicopter,” bragged John. “And the one who hacked the plans for the sewer maintenance tunnels.”_ _

__Bates nodded. “It was a neat trick getting them to kill you.”_ _

__John hid his flinch so well that if he hadn’t been plastered to Rodney’s side, Rodney would never have noticed it._ _

__“They were all so busy watching you down in flames they weren’t paying us any attention at all,” Bates continued, “and since you’re dead they’ll stop hunting you.”_ _

__Rodney glared at him, seriously, the man could shut up any time now. John had slumped a little more each time Bates drove home that the SGC had intended to kill him. Rodney now knew exactly why he hated their one-act tragedy. Tightening his grip on John, he tried to use the weight of his body to replace the tether that had just snapped._ _

__“It’s okay Rodney.” John patted his arm, before grinning at Bates. “I liked it,” he said, somehow managing to sound blasé at about being shot by his own side. “It won’t convince the SGC for long but it should definitely cut down on our problems with the Russians, Chinese and Gou’ald.”_ _

__“So we should get moving,” said Rodney, “there’s no point hanging around the scene of the crime.”_ _

__“Yes,” agreed Teyla, “quickly now.”_ _

__They all clambered back into the van. Ronon started it up, Teyla started to energetically quiz Simpson on her wedding plans and Bates was inevitably draw into the conversation. Rodney forced John into the corner of the van._ _

__“I…” he began, “are you…”_ _

__“I’m okay,” he insisted irritably._ _

__“Yeah right,” he scoffed because he knew John way better than that. Suddenly angry, he glared at his disconsolate boyfriend. “Why is this even a problem anyway? You were the one who came up with the plan in the first place, you were the one who was sure they’d shoot you down before they’d let you get away.”_ _

__“McKay,” John gritted out from between clenched teeth. “Stop trying to cheer me up.”_ _

__“No seriously, why is this a problem? You belong to the Athosian Air Force, why wouldn’t they shoot you down?”_ _

__“The Athosians don’t _have_ an air force.”_ _

__“Sure they do. You’re a pilot, and an Athosian, aren’t you?”_ _

__“It is quite true,” said Teyla, breaking away from Simpson’s babble about wedding dresses. “You must know many of our young people are eager to learn to fly the jumper just as soon as they are able too.”_ _

__John smiled and shook his head. “I’m probably lucky PJ only responds to me, aren’t I. Or they’d have been off joyriding.”_ _

__“If you mean they have tried to fly your jumper, then yes you are correct. I believe Jinto was most successful, he actually managed to get inside but he could not take off.”_ _

__“Thank the Ancestors,” said John, smiling ruefully._ _

__Rodney glowered and tried very hard not to sulk that Teyla had managed to cheer John up while he couldn’t. He told himself that the important thing was John feeling better and to his surprise that was actually true._ _

__“So,” he said, “back to the motel for some sleep and then we’ve got a ZPM to rejig.”_ _

__“ZPM rejigging is definitely on the schedule,” agreed John, “but we need to keep moving. Utah’s not bad this time of year.”_ _

__Rodney glared at his crazy boyfriend. “You can’t be serious. You’ve been hurtling around non-stop for days. You need sleep.”_ _

__“I’ll catch a nap in the van. I want to show Teyla and Ronon the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley while we’re in the area.”_ _

__“You’re a, a, a _galactic_ fugitive and you want to take the aliens sight-seeing? Is there a brain under all that hair?”_ _

__“Hey, this going to be my last chance –” John broke off and looked uncomfortable._ _

__Rodney blinked a little at the reminder John was planning to leave Earth for good. He already knew that, of course, but it was taking him a little while to fully grasp the idea._ _

__“I should very much like to see this Grand Canyon,” said Teyla. Rodney blinked again and wondered if he was getting better at this reading people thing because he could tell just by looking at Teyla that she couldn’t care less about the Grand Canyon except for how it impacted on John._ _

__“You should all get some sleep back there,” said Ronon. “I know the route. Sergeant, can you spell me in a few hours?”_ _

__“Sure thing.”_ _

__Rodney was altogether happy to let the others deal with the navigation and settle down with John. A thought occurred to him,_ _

__“How exactly are we going to rejig the ZPM?”_ _

__“Don’t worry,” said John, “I have a plan.”_ _

__“After the last one, you don’t get to make any more plans,” grumped Rodney._ _

__“Not even if we go and retrieve my spaceship?”_ _

__“Well maybe,” he temporized, trying not to be too obvious in his desire to see the spaceship John kept tempting him with._ _

__John laughed. “You’re drooling, Rodney.”_ _

__“Oh shut up.”_ _

__

__“Here we are,” announced John. They all piled out of the minivan and trooped over to inspect what had to be an abandoned quarry, filled with murky water and overgrown with weed._ _

__“Here,” said Rodney in disbelief._ _

__“Yep,” John grinned widely, “I hated to do it to my baby, but who’d think to look here.”_ _

__“Not me.” Rodney stared dubiously at the thick, goopy water. “Are you sure it’s safe.”_ _

__“I got out okay first time around.”_ _

__“Oh my God, you just have no sense of self-preservation at all, do you?”_ _

__“I’ll be fine.”_ _

__“As long as you don’t swallow any water, or get any in your lungs, or get eaten by the monster of the deep, or…”_ _

__“I promise you Rodney, PJ will protect me from the Kraken or whatever else is down there.”_ _

__“Fine, fine. Go do your manly heroics.”_ _

__John smiled and gave him a quick kiss, “for luck,” he explained, and then started to strip off._ _

__“This isn’t fair,” complained Rodney as he admired the long, lean body being revealed._ _

__John flashed him a grin, “I’ll make it up to you later.”_ _

__Rodney huffed and folded his arms. Turning away, he found the entire expedition was eyeing his boyfriend._ _

__“And what are you lot staring at?” he demanded_ _

__“We are just grateful to see how much weight the Major has gained,” said Teyla, with a soothing gesture._ _

__“Well stop, he’s my – wait, weight gained? He’s as skinny as a rake and he’s gained weight? Don’t you people look after him at all? Radek, take over shopping for food immediately, just because he can survive on that crap the military call food doesn’t mean he should have to.”_ _

__“Rodney calm down,” said John, “I’m fine.”_ _

__Turning back to tell John that he was not fine as he was clearly an idiot, Rodney heard a splash and saw his irritating boyfriend’s pale feet disappearing into the dark water._ _

__“God Damnit.”_ _

__“Rodney, he will be fine.” Teyla stepped away from the others to put one hand on Rodney’s forearm. “Don’t forget he’s our friend too.”_ _

__If any of the others had said that Rodney would have shouted at them, but Teyla really did love John, so he settled for a strangled humph._ _

__“Look,” said Teyla, forcing him to turn away from the murky water that had swallowed John. He saw Ronon and Bates were stripping down to their boxers while Radek and Simpson kitted them out with torches strapped to their heads._ _

__“Why didn’t you go with him in the first place?” he yelled._ _

__“He wouldn’t let us,” rumbled Ronon._ _

__“For one,” said Bates, “for two, he’s the only one of us with the gene, the puddle jumper will only respond to him.”_ _

__“That is thoroughly inefficient,” stormed Rodney. His first task was clearly to change that as soon as possible._ _

__“Preaching to the choir, doc,” said Bates. He shivered in the chill air, rubbing his hands up and down his upper arms. Simpson shifted behind him and hugged him tightly, trying to warm him up. Ronon looked magnificently disregarding of the cold that was raising the hairs on his arms but when Teyla walked to his side, his body canted towards hers. Radek slid his arm around Miko’s waist for no apparent reason at all. Rodney hunched one shoulder against the empty space where John should be._ _

__“Three,” continued Bates, “he’s the one who hid her so he knows where he’s going. Four it’s pitch black down there, we don’t need three of us stumbling around like the stooges.”_ _

__“Right,” said Rodney, because that made sense. John needed to be concentrating on getting to the ship, not trying to keep track of Ronon and Bates. “How long?”_ _

__“Another seventy-two seconds,” said Miko. Rodney realized her attention had been fixed on her watch ever since John had dived._ _

__“Good, fine. I’ll just – what the hell! Is that goddamn soup radioactive?”_ _

__The murky water was glowing a vivid blue._ _

__“He made it.” Bates sighed with relief, then tugged off the torch and pulled on his clothes as fast as he could. Ronon did the same and they were both fully dressed by the time the glowing blue thing emerged from the water._ _

__Rodney stared at it. It looked like a chunk of lake had pulled itself free and, trailing water and weed in its wake, was making for the shore. By the time it landed enough detritus had dripped away for Rodney to make out what seemed to be a large silver-colored tin can. A hatch opened and a flood of dirty water rushed out to swamp their feet._ _

__“A spaceship,” said Radek. He sounded more questioning than impressed._ _

__“Hey,” called an indignant voice from inside the machine. “Don’t insult my baby. It’s not her fault I had to pick such a crappy parking place.”_ _

__“John!” Rodney rushed forward, slipping slightly on the squelchy mud._ _

__“Rodney.” John sounded utterly delighted with himself, “Come say hello to PJ.”_ _

__He had been more interested in seeing John but the brightly lit consoles and intricate displays forced him to stop and stare at the second most beautiful thing he’d ever seen._ _

__“Wow.”_ _

__“She’s great isn’t she?”_ _

__The lights seemed to brighten even more for a second._ _

__“Oh my God,” said Rodney. “Even your _spaceship_ is in love with you, you are _such_ a Kirk.”_ _

__“I have better hair.”_ _

__“You’re not even denying it.” Rodney tore his attention away from PJ to glare at John. He was very white under the spaceship’s soft glowing blue lights and his hair, unable to stand up to radioactive soup, was plastered to his skull. Looking closer Rodney saw he was shivering._ _

__“Are you cold? Of course you’re cold, you just dived into an ice-bound lake.”_ _

__“It wasn’t icy.”_ _

__“Your teeth are chattering.” Rodney yanked off his jacket and wrapped it around John’s shoulders. The air inside the ship was still damp and cold and Rodney felt goose bumps breakout just from standing there in his t-shirt._ _

__“Come on,” he ordered, “I’m cold even if you’re not.”_ _

__“Sorry,” John patted his shoulder apologetically but did finally start moving._ _

__Rodney growled in disgust at the show of concern from the soaking wet, trembling with cold, moron. “We need to get you checked out by a doctor because the radioactive soup’s clearly _eaten your brain_.”_ _

__He wrapped his arm around John to hurry him forwards. With a soft sigh the tension left John and he slumped back into the protective embrace._ _

__“’M okay,” he mumbled as he stumbled along under Rodney’s direction. “Bye PJ,” he flailed one hand until he made contact with a bulkhead. “I’ll getcha cleaned up soon.”_ _

__“Stop flirting with your spaceship and come and get warm.” Rodney sighted the others with relief. “Towels,” he demanded, “preferably warm.”_ _

__He received a pathetic scrap of toweling from Ronon._ _

__“What use is this? What is wrong with you people? I want a fire and hot drinks immediately. Well hop to it. Man freezing to death here.” He glowered until he saw action, then he tugged John along to the minivan._ _

__“Hurry up and get inside, you’re turning _blue_. Honestly, I don’t know you survived before I came along.”_ _

__John made a snuffly sound of agreement and buried his cold nose in the crook of Rodney’s neck._ _

__

__Epilogue_ _

__“Sir!”_ _

__Jack O’Neill looked up from the personnel reports, and Daniel’s explanation of the social mores of P31-X3GR cut off, as Carter burst into the room, followed closely by Mitchell._ _

__“Yes Carter?”_ _

__“The thermosphere radar relay team have reported the effects of a quantum singularity consistent with a rupture through to alternate subspaces.”_ _

__“How nice for them.” He fished two red file folders out of his pile, looked like he wouldn’t be needing them for a while._ _

__“Seems like Sheppard managed to open a hyperspace window,” Mitchell translated helpfully._ _

__“They sure it’s Sheppard?” He pulled out the bottom desk drawer and shoved Sheppard and Bates’ files in at the back._ _

__“There anybody else kicking around with a hyperspace-capable ship?” Mitchell’s face was stuck somewhere between pride and disbelief._ _

__“Sheppard doesn’t have a hyperspace-capable ship,” said Carter. Her face showed full-on disbelief._ _

__“It was my understanding Major Sheppard left the SGC with both a space vessel and a hyperdrive,” Teal’c appeared in the doorway and joined the conversation._ _

__“He couldn’t have stolen the hyperdrive,” protested Carter, “Hermiod was watching him at the time and Sergeant Bates and Dr Simpson were in the infirmary.”_ _

__Jack rolled his eyes, “And where was his Chewbacca?”_ _

__“Jack,” scowled Daniel._ _

__“What?”_ _

__Daniel sighed and Jack tried not to let his grin show. Unfortunately, before Daniel could start his lecture on not using pop culture to refer to alien allies, Carter said,_ _

__“You think Ronon Dex stole the hyperdrive?”_ _

__“I always thought so, and I knew for sure when Sheppard cut and run.”_ _

__Mitchell grinned, “I figured something like that. You were way too relaxed about the theft. Well, the radar boys swear blind the readings they picked up indicate a ship jumping into hyperspace. I guess it has to be Sheppard. God, do you think they’ll make it?”_ _

__“I see no reason why not,” said Teal’c. “They have a gateship, a hyperdrive, a ZPM.”_ _

__“And Rodney McKay’s had what,” Jack checked the date on his watch, “close to a fortnight to put it all together.”_ _

__“Maybe Rodney can get them to the Pegasus Galaxy but what will they do then?” Carter wrung her hands. “Sheppard’s dangerous. The medical committee considered him too unstable to return to active service and ruled him out of any future Pegasus expeditions. He’s going to get them all killed.”_ _

__“I don’t deny Sheppard’s dangerous,” said Jack, because that was pretty much the understatement of the century, “But he can’t be that unstable, or they would never have pulled off breaking into Diablo Canyon’s power supply.”_ _

__“You think that was them?” Mitchell’s eyes widened in surprise._ _

__“Who the hell else could it have been?” Jack was beginning to get a bit exasperated, “Do you think I let just anybody run around this country wreaking havoc?”_ _

__“Uh, no sir,” stumbled Mitchell. “But, I mean, if you knew what he was doing, why didn’t you stop him?”_ _

__“I was too busy keeping track of all the Soviet, Chinese and Gou’ald spies Sheppard helpfully flushed out for us.”_ _

__All four of them just stared at him. Teal’c raised one eyebrow._ _

__“Okay, so I figured Sheppard deserved the chance to prove he could pull it off.”_ _

__“You helped him,” said Daniel with satisfaction._ _

__“I didn’t help him,” Jack objected, though he was pleased Daniel thought he’d done the right thing. If any of them could understand home being another planet, it was Daniel. “I just didn’t get in his way.”_ _

__“But Sheppard’s half-crazy with PTSD,” cried Carter. “For heaven’s sake, he said the city _sang_ to him.”_ _

__“Well that part,” Jack glanced at the little ancient gadget on his desk top that nobody else could hear humming and thought of Atlantis sunk beneath the waves, “that part I’ve always believed.”_ _


End file.
